FIFA's Shady World Cup Deal Links Trump Family Crypto to UAE Royal Family

A Prediction Market That Doesn't Exist Yet

FIFA announced a multi-year "exclusive" deal on April 2 to make ADI Predictstreet the official prediction market partner for this summer's World Cup. There's just one problem: ADI Predictstreet didn't exist until a few weeks ago.

The company's Instagram account has 135 followers. It made its first post on March 26 -- one week before FIFA's announcement. Its X account also launched in March 2026. The platform itself is scheduled to launch on April 9, after the deal was already signed.

FIFA passed over established prediction market giants like Kalshi and Polymarket -- the latter is paying MLB up to $300 million for similar rights -- to partner with a startup that has no track record, no user base, and no public presence.

"This is all very fishy," a veteran sports partnerships executive told Front Office Sports. "If this were a more established operator or someone with a track record in the space, it wouldn't raise the same questions."

Follow the Money to Abu Dhabi -- and Trump Tower

ADI Predictstreet is owned by the Abu Dhabi royal family through a complex web of holding companies. The company is a subsidiary of Finstreet Limited, which is controlled by International Holding Company (IHC). IHC is chaired by Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed al Nahyan, brother of the UAE president and overseer of a $1.3 trillion business empire.

This is the same Sheikh Tahnoon who secretly bought 49% of Trump's cryptocurrency company, World Liberty Financial, for $500 million just before Trump's inauguration in January 2025. That deal wasn't reported until a year later by The Wall Street Journal.

After Tahnoon visited Trump at the White House in March 2025, the UAE agreed to invest $1.4 trillion in the U.S. over the next decade. Just months after Tahnoon's secret investment in Trump's crypto venture, the Trump administration approved a deal allowing the UAE to purchase hundreds of thousands of American-made AI chips.

Tahnoon, who serves as the UAE's national security advisor, has held meetings about Gaza with Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff -- Trump's Special Envoy to the Middle East and co-founder of World Liberty Financial. Trump has praised Tahnoon as the UAE president's "wonderful brother."

World Liberty Financial did not respond to questions about whether it has any involvement with ADI Predictstreet.

A Blockchain Built for Speed -- and Secrecy

ADI Predictstreet operates on ADI Chain, a new blockchain run by the ADI Foundation. That foundation was created by Sirius International Holding, which is also owned by IHC -- the same holding company controlled by Sheikh Tahnoon.

The company has only been licensed to operate in Gibraltar, a tiny British territory that has earned the nickname "Blockchain Rock" for its crypto-friendly regulations. Nigel Feetham, Gibraltar's minister for justice, trade, and industry, posted on LinkedIn that ADI's license was granted in "record time." He did not respond to requests for comment.

FIFA's press release touted a "comprehensive integrity monitoring framework" to protect against suspicious trading activity. But sources familiar with the matter told Front Office Sports that ADI Predictstreet is not working with IC360 or Sportradar -- the two integrity monitoring firms that FIFA is using for World Cup gambling operations.

Infantino's Gulf State Gold Rush

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has cultivated close ties to both Trump and Gulf state leaders. He wore a Trump "USA" hat at a "Board of Peace" meeting, leases office space in Trump Tower, and gave Trump the first-ever FIFA Peace Prize.

Abu Dhabi has hosted the Club World Cup five times during Infantino's tenure. Infantino recently met with the Crown Prince of Dubai and announced that the UAE city will host a new annual FIFA awards event starting in 2026.

FIFA has broader relationships across the Gulf, including with Qatar (which hosted the 2022 World Cup) and Saudi Arabia (which put $1 billion behind last year's Club World Cup and will host the 2034 men's World Cup). Qatar Airways and Saudi Aramco are official FIFA sponsors.

For Infantino, the ADI Predictstreet deal could be a gateway to Abu Dhabi's vast capital reserves. "Infantino has found in Gulf leaders a willing partner, and that has obviously played well with Infantino's own desire to monetize almost every aspect of FIFA's operations," Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, the Middle East fellow at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy, told Front Office Sports.

Pay-to-Play on a Global Scale

The ADI Predictstreet deal fits a pattern of financial entanglements between Trump family business ventures, Gulf state investment, and access to U.S. policy decisions. The UAE royal family buys into Trump's crypto company, then gets approval for AI chip purchases. The same royal family launches a prediction market on its own blockchain, and FIFA -- led by a Trump-friendly president -- hands over exclusive World Cup rights.

FIFA declined to comment on the deal. ADI Predictstreet and IHC did not respond to requests for comment.

The "exclusive" nature of the deal means FIFA will not partner with more established prediction markets for the World Cup. Instead, the world's most-watched sporting event will funnel users to a platform controlled by the same foreign government that secretly invested hundreds of millions in the Trump family's crypto venture -- and received favorable policy decisions in return.