Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter on Wednesday slammed the world football governing body's plans to create a $20 billion subsidiary to run the World Cup, saying the tournament was not a commercial asset that belonged to a few executives.
Blatter, who was FIFA president for 17 years until 2015, said the idea put forward by his successor Gianni Infantino would take commercialisation of the sport too far.
"Football belongs to no individual and to no institution. It belongs to the people," Blatter, 90, told Reuters.
"If FIFA were transferred into a profit-oriented corporate structure, it would lose its soul," he added, noting he would never have considered such a move when he was in charge.
FIFA said on Tuesday it plans to create the subsidiary to run the World Cup and its other events, and will offer stakes of up to 20% in it to external investors.
The proposal has provoked a furious response from football authorities, including European ruling body UEFA, which said FIFA was putting the game up for sale.
Blatter has frequently clashed with Infantino, a fellow Swiss who took charge of FIFA in 2016 after a corruption scandal ended his own tenure. Blatter was later cleared of corruption charges.
He has railed against the decision to award the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia, and criticised the expansion of this year's tournament to 48 teams.
"The FIFA World Cup is not a commercial asset that belongs to a handful of executives," Blatter said. "It is part of the cultural heritage of world football. FIFA is the guardian of the World Cup, not its owner. There is a fundamental difference."
Investors pursuing influence and profits ran contrary to associations that follow the interests of their members, he said, noting that the game's connection to the public had sustained it for more than a century.
"That principle should never change," Blatter said.
Football's true foundations were the clubs, players, coaches, referees and fans, Blatter said, and FIFA's role is to administer the sport, organise competitions and redistribute income.
"The beneficiaries should be the game itself — from grassroots football to the highest international level — not outside investors seeking returns," Blatter said.