The world football governing body, FIFA, on Friday said it had scrapped plans to sell a stake in the World Cup to private investors after widespread backlash.

"Having listened carefully to all the views, it has become clear that the project has created divisions of a nature that, regardless of the level of support, are no longer in the interest of the objective set out in the first place," FIFA President Gianni Infantino said on Friday in a statement.

The proposal, referred to as the FIFA Forward Enterprise project, will not proceed, Infantino said.