On July 30th local time, the member associations of UEFA reached an agreement to boycott all FIFA-hosted events in protest against the proposal put forth by FIFA President Gianni Infantino to sell some shares of the World Cup to private equity investors.
After convening an emergency online meeting of 55 member associations, UEFA, as the European football governing body, issued a statement saying: "UEFA and its member associations will not participate in FIFA's events."
“Some matters are of vital importance and must not be sold. The World Cup is a sport of football, and it will always remain so. As long as Europe has a say in its own sport, it will never be sold,” said UEFA in its statement. “As long as these proposals remain, any UEFA national team will not participate in any FIFA matches, unless the proposal is completely abandoned and there are binding guarantees that FIFA will never allow its management or matches to be owned by private entities.”
A source in the football world told Reuters that, in the vote held by the UEFA emergency meeting, the results for boycotting FIFA matches were 55 to 0.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino and UEFA President Michael Hickel in a photo
According to The Associated Press, UEFA's latest statement is aimed at addressing Gianni Infantino's funding proposal to the 211 global member associations of FIFA. The proposal promises $20 million in funding for each member association, with acceptance of the proposal required by mid-September.
According to a proposal disclosed on July 28 local time, Gianni Infantino plans to split FIFA’s commercial operations into a new subsidiary valued at $20 billion, and sell 20% of the shares of this subsidiary to private investors. The main investor in this plan is a New York investment firm founded by Joshua Kushner, who is the brother of Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Reuters believes that UEFA's statement is "decisive" and serves to demonstrate "unity" towards Ignanti. The report states that Ignanti's proposal caught the football governing bodies around the world off guard, and caused a stir several weeks after the World Cup in the US, Mexico, and Canada ended.
UEFA's stance has greatly increased the severity of the situation, having a direct impact on the Women's World Cup in Brazil in 2027. Meanwhile, the Men's World Cup in 2030 will be co-hosted by Spain, Portugal, and Morocco.
According to reports, in the world rankings of FIFA's men's and women's football teams, six of the top ten teams come from Europe.
On July 30th, local time, the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Football Associations and its 41 member associations also rejected FIFA’s plan at a meeting. The Asian Football Confederation sent a stern letter to its 47 member associations, warning that the proposal would never succeed without the support of all six regional football associations.
It is reported that the non-FIFA body will hold a meeting next week to evaluate the proposal. The smallest regional football body, Oceania Football Union, which has 11 official members, stated that it will discuss the proposal at its meeting next month. The South American Football Union has not given any public comments and did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
