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North American nations join Europe's, reject FIFA head's World Cup investment plan
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World - CBSNews.com
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 World Cup and all other FIFA competitions to protest Infantino's plan.
"In addition, the need for private equity investment to fund new and existing FIFA Forward programs following the most profitable FIFA World Cup in history was questioned."
A source close to Joshua Kushner's company, Thrive Capital, dismissed criticism over the firm's involvement in the FFE investment plan to CBS News on Thursday.
The next scheduled FIFA tournament is within weeks in Europe — the Women's Under-20 World Cup hosted by Poland starting Sept. 5 — and the four British federations comprise FIFA's only bidder to host the 2035 Women's World Cup.