Gianni Infantino did not tell FIFA Council he was seeking private investment for U15 ‘World Cup’

FIFA president Gianni Infantino did not inform the FIFA Council that he was soliciting investment proposals from outside investors to finance a proposed Under-15 ‘World Cup’ for children.

Sources close to three members of the FIFA Council, all of whom remain anonymous as they are not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, told The Athletic that Infantino did not tell the Council that he was seeking external investment for the project.

The Athletic revealed last week that Infantino had held talks over the past year to commercialize an Under-15 festival inspired by baseball’s Little League World Series. The proposals included all 211 FIFA nations.

Infantino requested and then reviewed a proposal drawn up by businessmen including Juan Carlos Rodríguez, the former Mexico Football Federation commissioner. Rodriguez received backing from Eldridge Industries, a global holding company founded and chaired by Todd Boehly, chairman of Premier League team Chelsea and co-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

They held conversations with ESPN, a long-time broadcaster of the Little League World Series, to host the event at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, located close to the Disney World resorts in Orlando, Florida. Under the plans, opening and closing ceremonies would have been held at Disney, and ESPN was on board to broadcast the tournament in the United States.

FIFA’s president also had an idea for the opening match of the Under-15 festival to be between the national teams of Israel and Palestine, having previously failed at the FIFA Congress in Vancouver in April to get representatives from the Israeli and Palestinian football federations to shake hands and pose for a photograph.

Rodriguez, Eldridge and ESPN all declined to comment.

Now, The Athletic can further reveal that the proposal had over $250 million (£183.9m) of financial commitments from investors, led by Boehly’s Eldridge, to finance the project. The hope was to secure returns through local broadcast deals and sponsorship, with many nations competing in a ‘World Cup’ for the first time.

During conversations with FIFA, those behind the proposal discussed varying lengths of terms for the partnership, with use of FIFA’s brand and licensing over both a 20-year and 30-year period both discussed. FIFA’s chief of staff Dan O’Toole worked closely on the plan, with the same executive also involved in the discussions with J.P. Morgan for Infantino’s failed plot to sell stakes in FIFA’s events and commercial operations to Joshua Kushner’s Thrive Eternal fund.

Several members of the FIFA Council told confidantes they only found out about the talks to commercialize a children’s competition when it was reported on The Athletic last week. They also questioned whether spinning off a children’s competition for the benefit of outside investors would present challenges to FIFA’s non-profit status.

Representatives of those members said they believed Infantino was acting beyond his remit by exploring such proposals without discussing the matter with the FIFA Council.

The FIFA Council is described by FIFA’s website as the “main decision-making body of the organization”, which consists of FIFA’s eight vice-presidents, as well as 28 members elected by member associations. It includes the presidents of each confederation, some of whom were also not informed of this plan. Those members would likely argue that this is further evidence of Infantino’s highly personalized and centralized approach to FIFA leadership, where they believe too many initiatives are proposed or come about without sufficient consultation with broader stakeholders.

In a statement to The Athletic, a FIFA spokesperson said that the FIFA Council was informed in December 2025 “that the FIFA administration was working to develop a proposal to cover the substantial costs that would be incurred by organising the new FIFA U-15 tournaments.”

FIFA added: “The FIFA President informed the FIFA Council that it was important to find financial support for the event in the interest of sustainability, given the significant outlay required for such a venture, and to ensure that it started and continued in the best possible fashion.”

Gianni Infantino speaks during the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup Draw ceremony in Miami in December 2024. (Giorgio Viera / AFP via Getty Images)

However, FIFA did not state that Infantino had ever mentioned the possibility of external investment, which would also mean external returns.

Instead, FIFA said: “The FIFA administration holds many internal discussions in relation to many proposals. The FIFA Council are invited to approve concrete proposals in accordance with rules and regulations.”

FIFA also said that “no concerns were raised” by its own employees about the “commercialisation” of a children’s tournament or its possible impact on FIFA’s tax status in Switzerland. FIFA insisted that “all internal discussions” relating to the project were “in line with the appropriate statutes and governance regulations.”

FIFA informed Boehly’s Eldridge and Rodriguez shortly before the World Cup that it would not proceed with the $250 million-plus proposal. It is not known whether Infantino’s secret talks with Kushner’s Thrive Eternal, the fund which sought to be the lead investor in acquiring a 21 percent stake in FIFA’s commercial and event operations, may have been deemed a conflict with this proposal. Thrive Capital last week declined to comment when asked if they had been made aware of FIFA’s plans to commercialize an Under-15 tournament.

FIFA has been open about its plans to create a new global Under-15 tournament. It was first announced following a FIFA Council meeting in December 2025, after which FIFA issued a press release to say it would involve shorter matches and smaller pitches than senior football. FIFA also confirmed the first instalment of the competition would be for boys only, before a girls’ edition in 2027. After that, both the boys’ event and the girls’ event would be played separately at different times of the year.

Having declined the proposal just before the World Cup, FIFA then announced that the FIFA Bureau of the Council, a group of top directors, had ultimately decided the Under-15 event should take place in Azerbaijan in late October, seemingly without external investment at this stage.

A FIFA statement said the decision to go to Baku followed a “thorough assessment by the FIFA administration and takes into account the world-class sporting and general infrastructure in the host country, which is capable of welcoming thousands of children and support staff in a centralised location.”