"I have this weird feeling that Gianni Infantino will pull off his mask to reveal Sepp Blatter." Gary Lineker posted that on X over ten years ago. It has resurfaced this week for obvious reasons.
Infantino is now pushing to privatize the World Cup — launching a sister company to oversee the tournament's commercial and event operations, with shares to be sold to private investors. UEFA's response was swift and pointed: the sport "isn't for sale" and is "not FIFA's to sell." Soccer federations across the board have recoiled.
The Blatter comparison lands harder now
Sepp Blatter, Infantino's predecessor, spent fifteen years as FIFA president before being banned from the sport following a guilty finding on ethics violations. Infantino was elected as the clean-break candidate shortly after. The reformer. The fresh start.
Instead, he spent the Qatar World Cup touring stadiums like a head of state, getting booed on the big screens wherever he appeared — and not without reason. Decisions that bent credulity, interference that made players and experts uncomfortable, and now this: an attempt to repackage and sell the world's most-watched sporting event to private shareholders.
Infantino, facing reelection in November, framed the move as evolution: "Strengthening the commercial side of football is the natural next step." That's the kind of language that sounds reasonable in a boardroom and tone-deaf everywhere else.
What this means beyond the headlines
If Infantino's privatization plan gains traction, the long-term implications for how the World Cup is awarded, structured, and monetized are significant. The tournament's hosting decisions are already a subject of intense scrutiny — adding private investor interests into that equation doesn't simplify anything. Any futures market on World Cup host nations just became murkier.
The backlash from UEFA and federations suggests this won't pass without a serious fight. But Infantino has shown before that he can absorb criticism and keep moving. Lineker saw the mask slipping a decade ago. The question now is how many people at FIFA are willing to take it off him.
