Spain and Portugal make ultimate boycott threat to Gianni Infantino and FIFA after World Cup drama

Spain and Portugal will reportedly give up co-hosting the 2030 World Cup if Gianni Infantino doesn't withdraw his plans to privatise the competition.

Infantino caused outrage among the footballing world earlier this week when he revealed plans to “invite third parties to make minority, non-controlling investments” in a new subsidiary called the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE).

The subsidiary could be worth around £15 billion and effectively meant he wanted to sell shares in FIFA's commercial and events operations.

FIFA aimed to raise over $20 billion through private investment via the brand-new company (FFE). US-based Thrive Capital - a company owned by the brother of Donald Trump's son-in-law Joshua Kushner - are expected to lead a proposed investor group.

Infantino even promised a £30 million payment to each member that backed the proposal by September 19, but unsurprisingly, his plan has already fallen on deaf ears.

There has been widespread opposition from multiple parties, with UEFA releasing a furious response and its 55 members threatening to boycott the World Cup if plans come to fruition.

Federations are also strongly against the idea. Concacaf and AFC have adopted the same stance as UEFA to bring the total number of associations not in favour to more than 100.

Infantino's senior advisor, Carlos Cordeiro, even announced that he's resigned from his role as he expressed his opposition over what he described as a "bad deal for the game".

Cordeiro's stance is particularly important as it proves that not even his right-hand man backs the president of FIFA, and he only joins a long list of people who oppose the idea.

Spain and Portugal could withdraw from hosting the 2030 World Cup

Spain, Portugal and Morocco are set to host the 2030 World Cup, but individual games are scheduled in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay to honour the tournament's 100th anniversary.

FIFA are pushing to expand the World Cup to a 64-team format by then, after only increasing it to 48 at this year's tournament.

READ NEXT: The six Argentina players that could be banned for next World Cup as FIFA issue statement

But even though there are four years until the next edition, there is a chance that it may not go ahead.

According to El Espanol, the 2030 World Cup is in 'serious jeopardy' due to Infantino's plans to exploit the rights of the competition.

"No UEFA national team will participate in any FIFA A competition while these proposals remain in place," was the clear and emphatic statement made by UEFA president Aleksandr Ceferin.

By aligning themselves with UEFA's position, Spain and Portugal are ruling out playing in and hosting the 2030 World Cup - a potentially completely different stance to the one Morocco end up adopting.

The Confederation of African Football also reacted on Thursday, but instead of outright opposing the idea, they said they will therefore hold an internal meeting next week to "review and evaluate the proposed 'FIFA Forward Enterprise' initiative.

The CAF have essentially left the door ajar to Infantino's idea, whereas Spain and Portugal are obviously against it, so it puts the next World Cup further into potential jeopardy.