Sports
FIFA Faces Backlash Over Plan to Sell World Cup Stake
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) is facing mounting global backlash after unveiling plans to sell a stake in the commercial rights of the FIFA World Cup.
The controversy centres on the global football body’s proposal to create a new commercial entity, FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), and sell a 20 per cent stake to private investors. The body has reportedly valued the new company at $20 billion, with plans to raise up to $4.2 billion to fund football development programmes worldwide.
Under the proposal, FIFA’s 211 member associations have been given until September 19 to decide whether to accept an initial payment of $20 million from the proceeds of the sale.
However, the move has triggered outrage across football’s governing bodies, with several federations insisting they were neither consulted nor informed before the proposal became public.
In strongly worded statements, the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) as well as the English Football Association (FA) have described the move as a lack of transparency and governance.
On its part, the English FA said it had not received any substantive details about the plan and questioned the governance process that led to the proposal.
“We were completely unaware of this proposal and have no substantive details, including what the proposition actually is, and what conditions are attached,” the FA said.
“Based on the limited information, we are deeply concerned about the lack of process and governance to get to this point, and the apparent substance and principles involved.”
The statement marks one of the strongest public criticisms of FIFA under president Gianni Infantino from the English governing body, whose chair, Ms Debbie Hewitt, also serves as one of FIFA’s vice-presidents.
Despite regularly attending FIFA meetings and World Cup events, Hewitt is understood to have been excluded from discussions surrounding the proposed transaction.
The FA’s intervention follows similar criticism from UEFA, with European football authorities reportedly coordinating opposition to the plan.
According to reports, European football leaders are considering a range of responses, including the possibility of boycotting FIFA competitions or pursuing a breakaway if concerns over governance are not addressed.
In a new statement on Wednesday, UEFA wrote that, “FIFA cannot continue to use our sport to enrich themselves and their friends. We can grow the game correctly. It’s time to prioritise associations, clubs, leagues, players, and fans.”
CONCACAF, whose member nations jointly hosted the record-breaking 2026 FIFA World Cup, also expressed disappointment, saying it first learned of the proposal through media reports rather than internal consultations.
“CONCACAF was only made aware of this matter through media reports and, subsequently, via a media release,” the confederation said.
“We are deeply concerned by the lack of due process.”
The regional body added that decisions of such significance should follow proper governance procedures and extensive consultation with football stakeholders.
As of press time, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has not disclosed anything regarding the development.
The growing opposition has intensified scrutiny of FIFA’s relationship with US investment bank JPMorgan, which is reportedly advising on the establishment of FIFA Forward Enterprise.
The commercial vehicle would package portions of FIFA’s revenue-generating assets, including World Cup-related commercial rights, allowing outside investors to acquire an ownership stake.
Supporters argue the transaction could unlock billions of Dollars for grassroots football development, infrastructure and investment across member associations.
Critics, however, warn that bringing private investors into the commercial ownership of football’s flagship tournament could prioritise financial returns over the long-term interests of the global game.
With opposition now emerging from multiple confederations and national associations, pressure is mounting on FIFA to provide full details of the proposal before member nations decide whether to endorse one of the most significant commercial restructurings in the organisation’s history.
By Dipo Olowookere
A fully synthetic multilingual Artificial Intelligence (AI) presenter known as AILA has been unveiled by Flashscore, one of the world’s largest digital sports data and news platforms.
Flashscore, which boasts more than 155 million monthly users, said the AI presenter was developed in collaboration with a creative high-value AI production studio, Fameplay.
AILA turns Flashscore’s sports data-driven features and narratives into localised presenter-led video, a statement from the company made available to Business Post said.
It anchored Route 48, Flashscore’s player-by-player data profile series, in Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese, and fronted an app-download campaign across Latin America, Spain and France, speaking each market’s language natively.
On the strength of that run, Flashscore is now ready to extend AILA across product and editorial announcements, original shows and partnerships.
Flashscore noted that AILA does not replace human editorial teams or studios, but rather complements them effectively and adds an always-available element.
“AILA was created by deliberately separating two distinct elements. The performance itself, the movement, facial expressions, and on-screen presence, was licensed from a real actress. The face, however, was built entirely from scratch: fully synthetic and fully owned,” the Chief AI Producer and co-founder of Fameplay, Lukáš Záhoř, stated.
“AILA can speak in dozens of languages, across any format, at any time, without being constrained by the availability or limitations of a human performer.
“Most synthetic presenters, by contrast, borrow a real person’s face and simply hope no one asks who actually owns it. For Flashscore, we created an asset that will only become more valuable over time, not a deepfake that lasts only until the first lawsuit,” Záhoř added.
Also commenting, the Chief Digital Content Officer at Livesport, Alan Záruba, said, “Our newsroom reaches millions of people, and we built our own studios to enhance our content the way we want it.
“AILA is an extension of that, not a departure from it. We want to stay at the forefront of the current digital development and AI-powered stream. When we briefed Fameplay on how to handle the concept of an AI digital avatar which can radically change the way we would scale our content, we wrote a single line to define future AILA: she’s built from numbers, but she speaks in stories.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria’s Super Falcons have failed to qualify for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup after suffering a 2-1 defeat to South Africa in their play-off encounter on Thursday night.
The Nigerian team, reeling from a 1-0 loss to Cameroon in the quarter-finals of the CAF Women’s African Cup of Nations (WAFCON) on Sunday, showed no signs of putting their misery to bed as they went two goals down to the Bayana Bayana team. It took a late penalty scored by Christy Uchebe to halve the deficit after the South Africans went down to 10 players.
The Super Falcons needed a victory against their opponents to progress to the next stage of the qualification process and secure one of the two available tickets to the intercontinental play-offs. The defeat ended their hopes of making it to the 2027 tournament, which will be hosted by Brazil.
The result brings an end to Nigeria’s remarkable record of appearing at every edition of the Women’s World Cup since the tournament was first held in 1991.
The play-offs were introduced to determine the final African representatives after four teams were eliminated at the quarter-final stage of the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
Two qualification tickets were available, with Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire battling for the opportunity to advance.
Ghana secured one of the available tickets after defeating Côte d’Ivoire 2-1, while South Africa claimed the other following their victory over the Super Falcons.
The Super Falcons had featured in all previous editions of the tournament, making their absence from the 2027 World Cup a significant moment in the history of Nigerian women’s football.
It also raises fresh questions about the direction of Nigerian national football after the Super Eagles also failed to qualify for the recently concluded FIFA World Cup held in the USA, Canada, and Mexico.
European football returns with a bang as the new season kicks off. The dust has barely settled on the 2026 FIFA World Cup, but European football wastes no time getting back to business. Over the next two weeks, the continent’s prominent competitions will launch in quick succession, giving fans a dense run of fixtures across the UEFA Super Cup, the FA Community Shield, La Liga, the Premier League and Serie A.
Paris Saint-Germain, fresh off back-to-back Champions League triumphs, faces Aston Villa in the UEFA Super Cup on Wednesday 12 August at 8pm which will be airing on Supersport across DStv & GOtv, with the French side chasing a second successive Super Cup crown against an Aston Villa team that has become an increasingly serious force in European competition.
England’s traditional curtain-raiser follows four days later. The FA Community Shield, staged in Cardiff on Sunday 16 August at 3pm, pits Premier League champions Arsenal against FA Cup holders Manchester City, the latter beginning life under new manager Enzo Maresca, while Arsenal look to reinforce their status as the team to beat.
Spain gets moving over the same weekend, with La Liga’s opening round running from Saturday 15 to Monday 17 August. Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid have all been given extended rest following Spain’s World Cup win, leaving the door open for the chasing pack to set an early pace before Matchday 2 arrives from 20 to 24 August.
The Premier League then starts the following weekend, running from Friday 21 to Monday 24 August. Champions Arsenal open their title defence at home to promoted Coventry, before a full round of fixtures featuring Manchester United, Tottenham, Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea, among others, round out the opening weekend. Serie A joins the calendar on the same weekend, from 22 to 24 August, with holders Inter Milan starting their title defence against Monza and Napoli, Juventus, Milan and Roma all in early action.
With five major competitions launching inside a fortnight, the new European season promises an unrelenting start. All the action will be available live on SuperSport, across DStv and GOtv.
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