FIFA’s proposal to raise up to $4.2 billion through a minority investment in a new commercial subsidiary has prompted a much wider argument about ownership, governance and the future of football.
As important as that debate may be, it is altogether separate from (but just as important as) the question raised by Socios.com CEO Alexandre Dreyfus: if FIFA decides to issue equity, does access to it have to be restricted to a small group of large private investors?
Tokenizing any equity issued by FIFA wouldn’t change the debate around what FIFA plans to do with it, or why. That question remains open. What it would change is who can access it.
What Has FIFA Proposed?
FIFA plans to establish FIFA Forward Enterprise, a commercial subsidiary valued at $20 billion, and raise up to $4.2 billion by selling minority, non-controlling interests to external investors.
According to FIFA’s announcement, the new entity would oversee commercial and event operations. FIFA would retain majority board representation and exclusive authority over competitions, football governance, the international match calendar and sporting regulations.
The organisation says the capital raised would help expand development funding across its 211 member associations. The structure remains subject to the support of a majority of those associations and the necessary approvals from the FIFA Council.
The proposal has also attracted notable opposition since being announced. UEFA and other critics have questioned its governance, transparency and the principle of allowing private investors to own part of an entity connected to football’s biggest competitions.
The prospect of tokenisation doesn’t aim to tackle those concerns, but rather addresses how any equity created by FIFA could be issued, recorded and distributed, with a view to potentially opening up the investment arena to those who otherwise wouldn’t have access.
What Is Tokenised Equity?
Tokenised equity is company ownership recorded using blockchain infrastructure. A genuine tokenised share remains a security and can carry the same economic and legal rights as a conventional share.
Tokenisation is sometimes misunderstood as the creation of a new cryptocurrency loosely connected to an existing business. That is one possible structure, but it is not the only one.
A company can instead issue equity directly on a blockchain, making the digital token itself the legal security.
Depending on the share class and offering terms, its holder could receive the same voting rights, dividend entitlements and protections as an investor holding the equivalent equity through conventional infrastructure.
The model proposed by Socios.com CEO Alexandre Dreyfus is based on tokenising the actual equity issued by FIFA Forward Enterprise, rather than producing a separate token designed simply to track its value.
What Would Tokenisation Actually Change?
Tokenisation would primarily change the infrastructure around the shares: their denomination, distribution, ownership records, settlement and potential secondary trading.
Private equity raises are generally designed for institutions and wealthy investors capable of committing substantial sums. Participation commonly depends on access to private investment networks, specialist advisers and jurisdiction-specific financial infrastructure.
An issuer-backed tokenised offering could divide the same equity into smaller units and make it available to a wider pool of eligible investors through one compliant platform.
The ability to divide equity more precisely could reduce the financial barrier to entry. A global digital platform could also make it easier to verify investors, distribute disclosures and maintain an accurate ownership record across several jurisdictions.
None of these outcomes are automatic. The legal structure, technology and participating financial institutions would determine how the shares worked in practice.
Why Does This Matter Beyond FIFA?
Modern sports organisations have global audiences, but investment in them remains highly concentrated. A supporter may follow a team from another continent, buy its merchandise and pay to watch every match, yet have no realistic route to invest in the business.
The tokenisation proposal illustrates how sports equity could eventually move beyond closed private markets without requiring every organisation to pursue a conventional public listing.
Clubs, leagues and other sports businesses could potentially raise capital from a broader group of eligible investors while retaining control over the size, rights and transferability of the stake being offered.
That doesn’t mean every sports organisation should, or, should need to, sell equity, or that every supporter should necessarily look to become an investor. It simply means that when equity is being issued anyway, the infrastructure used to distribute it does not have to determine who gets the opportunity to participate.
That is the wider possibility raised by the FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal. The decision over whether FIFA should sell part of the business remains a question for football and its governing institutions.
Tokenisation poses another question: if the investment goes ahead, why should access remain limited to those already inside the private capital system?
