Former FIFA President criticized the plan to attract investors for the World Cup.

Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter has sharply criticized a plan to establish a separate company to manage the World Cup and offer a 20 percent stake to external investors. In his view, the World Cup is not a commercial asset but a cultural heritage belonging to the entire football community.

 

Sepp Blatter, who served as FIFA President from 1998 to 2015, has opposed the initiative to involve private investors in the World Cup management system. In an interview with Reuters, he emphasized that subordinating football to commercial interests undermines the core values of the sport.

 

According to Blatter, football is not the property of any individual or organization.

"Football does not belong to anyone. It belongs to the people," said the former FIFA chief.

 

In his opinion, if FIFA turns into a profit-oriented corporate structure, the organization will lose its true essence.

 

Earlier, FIFA had announced plans to create a separate subsidiary company to manage the World Cup and other major tournaments, and that it might offer up to 20 percent of its stake to external investors.

 

This initiative has been criticized in European football circles, particularly by UEFA. The organization stated that this decision risks turning the World Cup into a commercial asset.

 

Blatter stressed that the World Cup should not be turned into a source of income for private investment funds.

 

"The FIFA World Cup is not a commercial asset owned by a group of executives. It is an integral part of the cultural heritage of world football. FIFA is not its owner, but its guardian," he said.

 

The former president stated that during his tenure leading FIFA, he would never have considered such an initiative. In his view, the entry of investors chasing profit and influence into sports management contradicts the principle of protecting the interests of members.

 

Blatter noted that the reason modern football has been gaining popularity for over a hundred years is precisely because it serves the public interest, and emphasized that this principle must remain unchanged.