DFB head seeks details from Infantino on FIFA ‘sell off’ deal

The head of Germany’s football association has called on FIFA’s boss to come clean on his alleged plans to sell World Cup rights. The world football’s governing body has said it’s too early to draw any conclusions.

German Football Association (DFB) President Reinhard Grindel on Saturday urged FIFA head Gianni Infantino to “put all the facts and information on the table” about his plans for the sporting body.

The appeal came after an investigation by Germany’s Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper and public broadcaster WDR found Infantino was trying to sell all of FIFA’s major rights as part of a future $25 billion (€21.9 billion) deal with backers tied to Saudi Arabia.

The deal was originally meant to deliver two new tournament formats — a new global Nations League and revamped Club World Cup — to investors. But according to the German media outlets, the contract also included the purchase rights to the World Cup, satellite and network transmissions, archives, movies and videos, video games and merchandising.

“It can’t be, that every day there are new rumors and speculation,” said Grindel, who was among the first people to raise concerns about Infantino’s plans. The problem with the project is that “even after eight months, we are still speculating on the exact basis of this ominous offer,” he added.

Grindel and others have repeatedly rejected a vote on Infantino’s ambitious project without knowing the details. Their concerns forced FIFA to put its plans on hold in October.

According to the original plan presented by Infantino to the FIFA Council in March, he had envisaged $12 billion each for the rights to the Club World Cup and the Nations League and $1 billion for the rights to digital content and other FIFA licenses, Germany’s DPA news agency said.

But German media reports suggest that the prospective investors may have hit a jackpot, winning just about every right from the world football’s governing body and getting it all at the same price.

Süddeutsche Zeitung and WDR identified the consortium of investors as British investment group SB Investment Advisers Limited (SBIA) and the London-based investment company Centricus Partners LP, reporting they both had close ties to Saudi Arabia. The consortium’s close ties to Riyadh suggest a geopolitical motive behind the deal, rather than a purely business motivation, the German media outlets reported.

FIFA told DPA that the document referred to by the German media outlets was one of many hundreds of documents in circulation at the world body and that it was outdated.

“This does not allow conclusions to be drawn until a decision has been taken or a proposal accepted,” FIFA said.