{"text":[[{"start":9.12,"text":"Fifa has abandoned a divisive plan to set up a $20bn company to control the football governing body’s commercial rights and sell a 20 per cent stake to private investors after fierce global backlash."}],[{"start":21.479,"text":"Fifa president Gianni Infantino, a key architect of the plan, said it had “become clear that the project has created divisions of a nature that, regardless of the level of support, are no longer in the interest of the objective set out in the first place”."}],[{"start":34.56,"text":"The decision follows intense backlash from senior figures at Fifa, European governing body Uefa, other football confederations and days of uproar since the FT first revealed the plan."}],[{"start":46.24,"text":"Pressure piled on Infantino as Fifa insiders hit out at his plan to raise $4.2bn from an investor group led by Thrive Eternal, with football confederations representing members in Europe and North and Central America voicing opposition."}],[{"start":61.338,"text":"Thrive is run by Joshua Kushner, whose brother Jared Kushner is married to US President Donald Trump’s daughter."}],[{"start":67.76,"text":"Infantino this week came under intense pressure over the planned stake sale, which would have reworked the governance of, and influence over, football globally."}],[{"start":76.4,"text":"Kevin Lamour, Fifa’s chief operating officer, said on Friday that the stake sale was a “project of one person” and that he and his colleagues had been “deceived” by its creators. A top adviser to Infantino had resigned in protest, while UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Infantino was “the wrong man” to lead Fifa in the wake of the plan."}],[{"start":96.865,"text":"Fifa had pitched the stake sale plan as a way to boost revenues and share the proceeds with its 211 national member associations. Members were each promised a $20mn upfront payment and a doubling of their annual stipend to $5mn if they voted the plan through — a transformative amount for members in smaller and poorer countries."}],[{"start":116.96,"text":"Despite the criticism that has come his way, Infantino suggested that he would remain at the helm of the World Cup organiser."}],[{"start":124.382,"text":"“Moving forward, my intent is to bring all interested parties back together in the coming days and weeks in the spirit of shared interest in our game.”"}],[{"start":137.68,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1785546759_8808.mp3"}