JPMorgan Chase is in the crosshairs of the soccer world over its role in a proposed FIFA spinoff that led European countries to announce a boycott of the World Cup and other competitions.

The largest U.S. bank was brought in to put a value on the venture early this year, when it was already well under way. FIFA President Gianni Infantino had held conversations about it as far back as at least last year with Joshua Kushner, the brother of Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of President Trump and a former senior adviser at the White House, The Wall Street Journal previously reported.

The plan was kept secret for months and caught executives by surprise when it finally leaked out on Tuesday, sparking an immediate backlash. FIFA had planned to present the proposal materials to members this week before the details emerged. It had earlier considered whether to do so near the conclusion of the World Cup in New York, but ultimately decided to delay it, a person familiar with the matter said.

The idea was to create a new entity holding the commercial rights of FIFA's most popular competitions and sell a 20% stake in that entity, at a $20 billion valuation, to private investors.

This would streamline decisions, prioritize high-yield partnerships, attract experienced talent and improve access to capital, according to a pitch deck that JPMorgan helped prepare for FIFA, which was reviewed by the Journal.

The deck projected that the deal would deliver millions of dollars to FIFA's members, allowing them to invest heavily in growth. That could pave the way for FIFA to have 650,000 players between 2027 and 2030 and 450 competitions, including for women's and youth programs, both more than double the current number. It said that FIFA had been undermonetized compared with other sports leagues.

"This model has been hugely successful in other sports," the deck said.

UEFA, which governs European soccer, was swift to reject the deal and said none of its national teams would participate in any FIFA competition "for so long as these proposals remain alive."

Infantino has long sought to curry favor with Trump. When FIFA awarded Trump a peace prize, Infantino wrote in a social-media post that the president had carried out "exceptional and extraordinary actions to promote peace and unity around the world."

Trump "can always count on my support, and on the support of the entire football community, to help make peace and prosperity all over the world, " he wrote.

This week, Trump told reporters he didn't speak to Infantino about the FIFA deal.

Privately, rival bank executives were quick to point out JPMorgan had been caught again in soccer hell, after the bank apologized over its involvement in the 2021 European Super League that blew up within 48 hours.

Then, JPMorgan pledged around $4 billion of financing to get the new Super League off the ground. It worked with the 12 clubs, including Manchester United, Barcelona and Juventus.

"We clearly misjudged how this deal would be viewed by the wider football community and how it might impact them in the future," a spokesman for the bank said then. "We will learn from this."

At JPMorgan, the view was that the FIFA deal was different from Super League, in part because it wasn't intended to change the competition, a person familiar with the matter said.

The pitch deck said FIFA would retain "sole control and exclusive authority" over governance, competitions, regulatory and sports decisions "in any future scenario."