FIFA apologizes for presidency's plan to sell stakes in World Cup

Following a meeting in Morocco on Wednesday, FIFA apologized for the errors made over a plan proposed by President Gianni Infantino to sell stakes in the World Cup, according to a statement released on Thursday.

In July, FIFA proposed creating a commercial subsidiary and selling minority stakes to private investors to fund a sharp increase in development funding for its 211 member associations.

The proposed FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) would have brought together FIFA's commercial rights -- including broadcasting, sponsorship, ticketing and licensing -- with the operational delivery of its tournaments.

FIFA would seek to raise up to 4.2 billion U.S. dollars by selling minority, non-controlling stakes in the company, based on an initial equity valuation of 20 billion dollars.

On Aug 1, Infantino announced the withdrawal of the proposed FFE project, after strong opposition from UEFA, several other continental confederations and key figures within FIFA.

FIFA officials later met in Morocco on Wednesday, where they addressed the proposal and acknowledged the mistakes that had been made, according to a statement.

The process should have been handled differently, and errors were also committed after the proposal was leaked to the media, said the statement.

In a separate letter to the FIFA Council and FIFA Member Associations, FIFA apologized for these errors and pledged to ensure they do not happen again. A review will now be conducted, with a report to be presented to the FIFA Council at its next scheduled meeting, said the statement.

Keir Radnedge, a sports politics and business author, said that private equity in the World Cup would go counter to the wishes of fans, who have been vocal in saying they do not want the tournament to be overly commercialized.

"One person who didn't expect such a reaction was Infantino himself, who thought he could just throw this idea out to his 211 member associations, that they would all say 'oh, yes, please, we'd like lots of that money.' Infantino's plot, plan, scheme -- call it what you like -- is dead in the water, because people fear the commercialization of the World Cup itself. I mean FIFA is a nonprofit body. And fans all around the world have a great emotional investment in the World Cup and they don't like to see it being played with too much in the commercial sense," Radnedge said during an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN).

FIFA apologizes for presidency's plan to sell stakes in World Cup

The newly upgraded Huanggang Port connecting the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Chinese mainland recorded more than 3.44 million inbound and outbound passenger trips in its first month of operation, averaging 114,000 per day -- a 120 percent year-on-year increase, as Shenzhen prepares for the 2026 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Week.

With the event approaching, all 25 APEC-dedicated channels across Shenzhen's ports in south China have been opened to facilitate the entry of participants and media from APEC member economies.

The upgraded Huanggang Port is operating smoothly, with its single-day passenger flow recently hitting the highest level since 2019.

At Huanggang Port, travelers now only need to queue once and present their documents once to complete immigration procedures for both sides.

"Usually it takes about one minute to go through customs on both sides. My fastest time was 36 seconds," said a passenger from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Huanggang Port is the only 24-hour land passenger port between Shenzhen and Hong Kong.

Since November, Shenzhen's ports have opened a total of 25 APEC-dedicated inspection channels. Among them, the Huanggang Border Inspection Station has processed 14,000 trips of foreign nationals from APEC economies, a month-on-month increase of 102 percent. "Facing the continuous high passenger flow, the Huanggang Border Inspection Station has strengthened early warning and analysis, continuously enhanced communication and coordination with the Hong Kong side, cross-border operating units, and foreign affairs departments, and reinforced our multilingual service team to ensure efficient and smooth customs clearance," said Yang Huan, staff member at the Huanggang Border Inspection Station.

As China's largest single port building and the world's largest land port complex, the facility covers a total floor area of 689,700 square meters, featuring four underground and five above-ground floors.

The original Huanggang Port, which opened in 1989, was China's first large-scale land port with 24-hour clearance. Reconstruction on the original site began in 2019 to meet the surging demand for cross-border passage.

Upgraded Huanggang Port handles over 3.44 million passenger trips in first month