FIFA, world soccer’s governing body, is shelving a controversial plan that would have allowed for billions of dollars in private commercial investment in the World Cup after the proposal was met with fierce opposition from its member nations.  “Having listened carefully to all the views, it has become clear that the project has created divisions…
The pressure is rising on FIFA President Gianni Infantino to ditch a World Cup privatization plan that could draw investments up to $20 billion, but which has drawn widespread condemnation from most of soccer’s worldwide governing bodies. The latest rebukes of the plan came on Friday when a senior adviser to Infantino stepped down in…
North America’s soccer body on Thursday rejected FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s plan to sell stakes in the World Cup to private equity investors, joining European nations in opposition. The 41-member Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football held an urgent meeting Thursday after UEFA, the European soccer body, had agreed to boycott the…
Every major European national soccer team threatened Thursday to collectively boycott competitions organized by global soccer’s nonprofit governing body FIFA over plans by the federation to sell off a minority stake in the World Cup tournament to private investors. A source close to Joshua Kushner’s company, Thrive Capital, dismissed criticism over the firm’s involvement in…
European football’s governing body UEFA said on Thursday it would boycott the World Cup should FIFA press ahead with its private investor plan. “No UEFA national teams will participate in any FIFA competition for so long as these proposals remain alive, unless this proposal has been abandoned in its entirety and binding assurances have been…
FIFA said Tuesday it plans to sell a stake in the business operations of the World Cup and its other competitions through the creation of a semi-private subsidiary. World football’s governing body said it would retain a majority share in FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) but hoped to raise $4.2 billion later this year by “carefully…
Amazon wants to build a telecommunications platform that would put thousands of satellites in space to offer voice, messaging, emergency and other services in connectivity-starved areas. The technology giant’s Leo subsidiary said Monday that it has filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission to launch a “direct-to-device” telecom service comprising more than 5,100 low…
Former Mexican drug kingpin Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada was sentenced in a U.S. court Monday to life in prison, seven years after his Sinaloa cartel co-founder JoaquÃn “El Chapo” Guzmán was handed the same sentence. Zambada’s sentencing in Brooklyn federal court was the culmination of the U.S. government’s yearslong fight to bring the long-elusive cartel…
Inside the U.S. Capitol, statues memorialize distinguished Americans, including famed social commentator and actor Will Rogers, who once quipped about Congress, “Every time they make a joke, it’s a law, and every time they make a law, it’s a joke.” Humor like that still rings true to the nearly 9 in 10 Americans who say…
A month of shocks, controversy, and record chases ends with Argentina and Spain fighting for the trophy in New Jersey. There is a version of this tournament that exists only in press releases: 104 games, three countries, a halftime show with more headline acts than most music festivals manage in a weekend, a Peace Prize…
