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Football

A “mystery consortium” of investors from the Middle East and Asia have made a mammoth bid of $25 billion to FIFA for control over two tournaments, The New York Times reported last week.

The New York Times report claims to have two reliable sources that the information was presented by FIFA President Gianni Infantino at a FIFA Council meeting in Bogota, Colombia, last month in March.

The bid was for the rights to “an expanded version of FIFA’s Club World Cup and the rights to a proposed national teams global league,” The New York Times reported. Gianni Infantino’s request to go ahead with the proposal was reportedly rejected by the council, the newspaper added.

FIFA president is currently attempting to raise revenues for the global footballing body ahead of his re-election next year in 2019. Infantino was elected in 2016 following a corruption scandal that hit the organization in 2015, which involved the banning of long reigning FIFA president, Sepp Blatter and his administration.

FIFA has long craved for a worldwide club competition that would be as popular as the UEFA Champions League, which generates billions of dollars annually, $15 billion to be precise for the current four-year cycle. FIFA collects around $5.5 billion during the same time period.

FIFA could be interested in looking further into this offer, as this will add an extra $25 Billion in revenues for the football body without taking on the workload and pressure of building two complete new leagues, that would have to compete with the UEFA Champions League. Perhaps a limited period partnership of 4 years, to test the new partnership where they give the rights to the mystery consortium.

At a news conference after the meeting, FIFA President Infantino, said discussions about the future of FIFA’s club competitions would continue, and would be addressed at the next council meeting, in Moscow in June. The current Club World Cup generates less than $100 million.

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