Kushner states regret over World Cup sell-off plan

Venture capitalist Joshua Kushner, who was set to be the lead investor in Fifa president Gianni Infantino's scrapped plan to sell off stakes in the World Cup, says he now regrets joining the proposal.

In his first public comments since the now-shelved Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) scheme sparked a major crisis for the governing body, Kushner said: "Had we known what this would devolve into, we would not have gotten involved".

The brother of US President Donald Trump's son-in-law, Kushner added he had "failed to appreciate the political dynamics of global football".

However, he also defended the proposal, saying, "we stand behind the motivations of FFE", and that its intention "was to direct more capital and equity equally" among Fifa's 211 member associations.

Thrive Eternal, a firm founded by Kushner, had held talks with Infantino about heading up a $4.2bn (£3.1bn) investment in 20% of a new Fifa commercial subsidiary, before the idea was abandoned days after it was revealed in July amid a huge backlash.

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Kushner's comments come just days after Uefa asked a court in New York to approve subpoenas for testimony and documents from both the American billionaire and Thrive as it considers lodging a criminal complaint against Infantino in Switzerland.