New Delhi, Aug. 1 -- "I cannot stand by," he wrote, "while FIFA considers selling a stake in the World Cup." The letter arrived Thursday, and within hours, Gianni Infantino had cancelled the plan.

a mechanism to sell roughly 20 percent of a new World Cup operations unit to external investors, with Joshua Kushner's Thrive Eternal fund as the lead buyer. The arrangement was valued at approximately $20 billion and was framed by Infantino as a pathway to fund football's global expansion. His statement on Thursday was brief and oblique, citing "divisions of a nature that, regardless of the level of support, are no longer in the interest of the objective set out."

In plain terms: the revolt had made the plan untenable.

UEFA, European footbal...