World Cup: Brussels protests against a privatisation plan

On Tuesday, FIFA published a proposal to privatise the commercial operations of the men’s and women’s World Cups, and the European reaction was swift. The venture capital fund led by Josh Kushner, the brother of Donald Trump’s son-in-law, is tipped to be the main investor in the deal – yet another sign of the US president’s influence over world football’s governing body.

“Commercial success must strengthen football, not devour it,” wrote European Commissioner for Sport Glenn Micallef on X, before adding: “Hands off our game.” He believes the proposal raises significant competition law issues, which the Commission intends to examine.

The deal involves transferring commercial rights and tournament organisation to a new subsidiary, FIFA Forward Enterprise. Private investors led by Josh Kushner’s company would acquire around 20 per cent, with FIFA retaining control.

To win over its member associations, Gianni Infantino has coupled his plan with a substantial increase in development funding: if a majority approves the proposal, each of the 211 associations could receive up to $20 million in one-off grants, in addition to increased payments in the coming years. “Football is the world’s most popular sport and an extraordinary driver of human and social development,” argued the FIFA president.

In the European Parliament, Gianni Infantino’s close ties with Donald Trump have long been a source of irritation. Earlier this month, 90 MEPs signed two letters criticising the organisation for actions which, in their view, undermine its political neutrality. Three of them are now calling for him to come and explain himself to MEPs. “If the plans are confirmed, Infantino must explain himself,” said German Green MEP Rasmus Andresen, who is calling for a hearing involving the Committees on Economic Affairs and Culture. Bogdan Zdrojewski, the Parliament’s rapporteur on the European sports model, supports this call.

Renew MEP Barry Andrews and Nela Riehl, chair of the Committee on Culture and Education, have announced that they will table a motion to summon FIFA to a joint hearing as soon as possible. Barry Andrews, who also chairs the Committee on Development, believes that the funding offer alone warrants an invitation. “The social model of football has gradually eroded over the past twenty years; it is now based on hyper-capitalism,” he added.

Josh Kushner’s fund declined to comment, whilst FIFA did not respond to requests for comment. Politico

🇪🇺 Europe • Two firefighters lost their lives on Wednesday in Crete, trapped by the flames inside their fire engine near Rethymno, as several wildfires rage across Greece amid strong winds, including one on the island of Paros which has led to precautionary evacuations. In France, the return of hot weather and sea winds has reignited the fire that broke out near Bordeaux on 22 July, which has already consumed 42,000 hectares – the largest to ravage France since 1949 – whilst a resurgence of the fire in the north mobilised firefighters late this morning. Twenty-three departments in France will be placed on orange heatwave alert on Thursday, up from 16 today. Belgium has sent around 30 military personnel and ten specialist vehicles to France as reinforcements. Turkey has deployed five aircraft and 18 helicopters to tackle a single fire in the province of Mugla, whilst in Spain, residents of evacuated towns in the province of Ávila have been allowed to return home.

🇷🇺 Russia - 🇺🇦 Ukraine • On Tuesday, the Russian military bombed at least two Ukrainian vessels: a bulk carrier in the Black Sea and another vessel in Mykolaiv, where strikes by drones and loitering munitions hit the port’s transhipment facilities and fuel depots, according to the Russian Ministry of Defence. Russian drones also targeted a Ukrainian cargo ship in the Kerch Strait.

🇺🇦 Ukraine - 🇺🇸 United States • Volodymyr Zelenskyy described his meeting with Donald Trump on Tuesday in the Oval Office as “good”, focusing on licences that would allow Kyiv to produce Patriot interceptors, the only systems capable of shooting down Russian ballistic missiles. The White House described the meeting as “positive and productive”. Of the 120 ballistic and anti-ship missiles launched by Moscow in July, only 35 were intercepted, according to the Ukrainian Air Force. The two men also discussed the resumption of the diplomatic process, and envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are due to visit Ukraine for the first time.

🇷🇺 Russia • On Wednesday, the FSB charged Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram, with facilitating terrorist activities, accusing a dating chatbot on the platform of being used by the Ukrainian security services to recruit young Russians for acts of sabotage. According to the authorities, 46 people aged between 12 and 22 have been arrested over the past year. Telegram’s official account responded on X with a photo of the billionaire giving the middle finger.

🇬🇧 United Kingdom • The Labour Party has caught up with, and even overtaken, Reform UK in three separate polls, a week after Andy Burnham moved into Downing Street. Survation credits it with 26 per cent of positive opinions, compared with 24 per cent for Nigel Farage’s party, up from 19 per cent in June. The new Prime Minister has devoted his first few days to tackling the cost of living, scrapping a tax on energy bills, capping bus fares and reducing taxes on pubs.

🇩🇪 Germany • Friedrich Merz is calling for massive cuts to the European Union budget, a stance that runs counter to the €2,000 billion mega-budget proposed by the Commission for the period 2028–2034. Berlin today unveiled two reforms aimed at reducing subsidies for renewable energy in Germany and relieving pressure on the electricity grid. According to the Minister for Economic Affairs, the state spends between 15 and 17 billion euros on this each year.

🇷🇸 Serbia • The Danube has reached its lowest level in over half a century at Bezdan, leaving boats stranded and sandbanks exposed. Fuel imports have plummeted, with only a quarter of the expected volumes delivered in July, and barges can only be loaded to 30–40 per cent of their capacity. The country’s largest hydroelectric power station is operating at around a third of its usual capacity.

🇺🇸 United States – 🇮🇶 Iraq – 🇮🇷 Iran – 🇯🇴 Jordan • The Revolutionary Guards claimed responsibility for ballistic missile strikes against a US airbase and a command centre in Jordan; according to Centcom, all were intercepted, with five shot down by Amman. “We’re going to hit them hard; they’re going to get a beating,” said Donald Trump, with Iranian television subsequently reporting US strikes in the north-west of the country. Washington also carried out strikes, alongside Saudi Arabia, against pro-Iranian armed groups in Iraq, leaving 20 dead – including five Iranians – and 32 wounded among the ranks of the Hashd al-Shaabi. The Iraqi presidency has condemned this as a “flagrant violation” of its sovereignty. These exchanges have reignited a conflict that had been on hold since Saturday, even though Donald Trump was still speaking on Tuesday of “good” discussions with Tehran – claims denied by the Iranian authorities. The price of a barrel of Brent crude rose to $87.99, up 4.64 per cent. The Revolutionary Guards have also announced that they have struck and boarded three oil tankers attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, which has once again been blockaded by Iran.

🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia - 🇾🇪 Yemen • The Houthis are seeking to replicate in the Red Sea the Iranian strategy applied in the Strait of Hormuz, by disrupting traffic at Bab el-Mandeb, warned Yemeni Foreign Minister Afrah al-Zouba, who considers the international response to be insufficient. The rebels claimed on Tuesday to have targeted a Saudi oil tanker accused of violating their naval blockade, whilst Riyadh announced that, for the second day running, it had intercepted drones launched from Iraq against oil facilities in the east of the kingdom.

🇺🇸 United States – 🇮🇱 Israel • Benjamin Netanyahu met Donald Trump on Tuesday in Washington, their first meeting since the outbreak of the war against Iran on 28 February. The Israeli Prime Minister described it as “the best of conversations”, centred on the shared objective of preventing Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Above all, he is seeking the US President’s support ahead of the general election on 27 October, where his approval ratings are slipping. Donald Trump had earlier expressed irritation at his ally publicly announcing their forthcoming talks.

🇨🇳 China - 🇮🇷 Iran • Iran is due to receive, within a few weeks, an initial delivery of several hundred Chinese-made portable surface-to-air missile launchers – the QW-12 and FN-16 models – under a contract estimated to be worth between 60 and 70 million dollars, according to three Reuters sources. The shipment is reportedly to pass through Urumqi and then Pakistan, which denies any involvement. Beijing has described the report as “completely baseless”.

🇻🇪 Venezuela • Supporters of the government and the opposition held separate demonstrations on Tuesday, just days before the start on 1 August of talks on “strengthening democracy”, which are being supervised by the US. Maria Corina Machado, who was not invited, insists she will not obstruct the process, whilst her supporters are calling for immediate elections. Chavistas denounce the negotiations as being conducted under external control, seven months after the capture of Nicolás Maduro.

🇵🇪 Peru • Keiko Fujimori was sworn in as President of Peru on Tuesday and immediately announced that the military would take charge of maintaining law and order in areas affected by gangs, drug trafficking and illegal mining. The ninth head of state in ten years, she has promised mass deportations of undocumented migrants and courts with anonymous judges, in a country where homicides have risen from 1,000 in 2018 to 2,600 in 2025.

🇨🇺 Cuba • On Wednesday, Havana opened up large sections of its economy to private operators: petrol stations, pharmacies, port facilities, waste management, renewable energy, vehicle imports and tourism. Healthcare, education, tobacco, the media and defence remain in state hands. The island now has more than 15,000 small and medium-sized private enterprises, which employ more than a third of the working population.

🇨🇳 China – 🇺🇸 United States • Washington has banned the import of advanced robotic devices from abroad, citing unacceptable risks to national security. The measure targets Chinese manufacturers of humanoid and quadrupedal robots, which dominate a rapidly expanding global market, and Beijing has protested.

🇯🇵 Japan • The magnitude 7.1 earthquake that struck Kumamoto Prefecture on Tuesday has left at least 13 people dead, including three in a shopping centre in Kashima that partially collapsed following an explosion, likely caused by gas, and five at a paper mill in Yatsushiro where an industrial chimney collapsed. Rescue teams are still searching for people trapped under the rubble, with around 130 police officers, 450 firefighters and 170 military personnel mobilised. More than 9,000 residents spent the night in evacuation centres; 31,200 households remain without electricity and 84,000 are experiencing water cuts. A wall of the centuries-old Kumamoto Castle has partially collapsed.

🇺🇬 Uganda • On Tuesday, the Health Minister declared an end to the Ebola outbreak, which affected twenty people, two of whom died; both were from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The last patient was discharged from hospital on 22 June. In neighbouring Congo, the epicentre of the outbreak, the number of confirmed cases now exceeds 3,000.