Fifa says it is not ‘selling football’ as Uefa vows World Cup boycott over Infantino plan

Uefa members voted unanimously on Thursday to boycott future World Cups if Fifa moves forward with plans to sell stakes in its competitions to private investors. Hours later, the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) announced that its 41 members were also opposed to Fifa’s proposal. The decision by Uefa’s 55 member nations to “unequivocally reject” Fifa president Gianni Infantino’s recent plan was made during an emergency virtual meeting. On Friday, however, the world governing body issued a statement denying it was “selling football” and doubled down on it plans to launch a consultation process on the move. However, it appeared to back off from establishing the public equity group – what it calls the Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) – if member countries did not agree. “Fifa acknowledges and respects feedback and concern aired in public,” it said, while blaming “erroneous reporting in the media” for disruptions to its planned consultation with member associations. But it said that without the support of Fifa’s 211 member associations, “Fifa’s commercial activities would remain unchanged. FFE would not be established”. “Nobody is selling football. This is not something Fifa would ever entertain.” The next scheduled Fifa tournament is within weeks in Europe – the Women’s Under-20 World Cup hosted by Poland from September 5 – and the four British federations comprise Fifa’s only bidder to host the 2035 Women’s World Cup. That decision is due on November 23. “Some things are simply too important to sell,” Uefa said in a statement. “The Fifa World Cup belongs to football. It always will. And so long as Europe has a voice, it will never be for sale.” The strategy meeting was called to counter Fifa president Infantino’s offer of US$20 million to each of Fifa’s 211 global members that has to be accepted by mid-September. Later Thursday, Concacaf met and announced it rejected Infantino’s plan. In a statement, it said members “expressed deep concerns about the lack of due process surrounding the proposal, the artificially short deadline imposed, and the absence of any review or approval by the relevant Fifa governance bodies”. It also questioned the need for outside investment “following the most profitable Fifa World Cup in history”. Infantino’s secret project was revealed on Tuesday to spin off its commercial operations in the new US$20 billion FFE subsidiary 20 per cent owned by private investors. The core investor would be a New York investment firm created by Joshua Kushner, the brother of US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. Infantino wrote on Tuesday to the 211 members – already the effective owners of Fifa as a non-profit association under Swiss law – that if they approved FFE, their promised US$10 million basic funding for the next four years would double to US$20 million. He projected their Fifa funding through 2038 would be US$86 million each, instead of about US$36 million. In response, Uefa said: “This is not merely a profound failure of leadership, but an abdication of Fifa’s duty as the custodian of world football.” Infantino’s presidency at risk? Infantino was a long-time staffer of Uefa and its CEO-like general secretary when he was first elected to lead Fifa in 2016. His high-stakes financial gambit could now threaten his previously secure 11-year presidency of Fifa as anger and frustration with him rises among football stakeholders including three of the six continental bodies. Fifa has set a November 18 deadline for potential candidates to declare in a presidential vote of the 211 members scheduled next March in Rabat, Morocco. Infantino had seemed – 11 days ago after the World Cup final in East Rutherford, New Jersey – to have a clear path to being re-elected unopposed for a fourth and final term in office through 2031, despite a furore over letting US forward Folarin Balogun play against Belgium despite a red card in his previous game. Football officials have said privately that Infantino has eyed a lucrative commissioner-like role at the FFE spin-off beyond 2031. “Game over, Gianni #InfantinOUT,” the Football Supporters Europe group, which advises Uefa on fan issues such as ticket prices, posted after the boycott threat. Concern at investor pressure Uefa detailed on Thursday why football officials feared external investors owning a stake of the global game’s biggest events, including World Cups and Club World Cups for men and women. “The moment external investors acquire ownership interests in Fifa competitions, football changes forever,” Uefa said. “Commercial return becomes a permanent obligation. Investor expectations become a daily pressure.” Infantino had presented the private equity offer as a chance to “turbocharge” funding development of football across the world, where a majority of the 211 Fifa members rely on its funding. Officials from about 40 Uefa member spoke at the urgent meeting, with anger expressed that Fifa was not using some of its multibillion reserves to fund extra development programmes. “As a result of today’s discussion, no Uefa national teams will participate in any Fifa competition for so long as these proposals remain alive,” the European football body said, “Unless this proposal has been abandoned in its entirety and binding assurances have been given that Fifa will never again open its governance or competitions to private ownership.” Asia adds rare criticism On a seismic day in football politics, a traditional bedrock of support in Asia for Fifa and Infantino had earlier on Thursday been shaken. “Fifa’s unilateral actions appear to undermine the very foundations of continental football,” the Asian Football Confederation president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa said in a letter to its 46 members of Fifa, warning of risks to their own competitions. Sheikh Salman, an ally to Infantino since losing the Fifa presidential election to him in 2016, wrote “such an initiative will not succeed without the support of all the confederations, which is not the case now”. In a video message published on Wednesday by Fifa, Infantino insisted spinning off its moneymaking operations was “an offer, not an obligation”. A Fifa presentation for its members, co-written with its banking advisers from JP Morgan and seen by the AP, set a goal for FFE as “commercial rigour and expertise to better capitalise on broadcast rights, sponsorships and a growing tournament portfolio”. Fifa squeeze on continental games That growing portfolio was likely to include adding more teams to Fifa competitions such as the World Cup and Club World Cup for men and women, and potentially staging them more often than every four years, including in the US. Fifa adding teams, games and competitions would squeeze the value, status and space in the congested global fixture calendar for those that fund and are organised by the six continental football bodies. Those include World Cup qualifying games, continental tournaments and Champions Leagues. “It is important that the AFC family has a complete understanding,” Sheikh Salman wrote, “of how such an initiative may affect key areas of global and Asian football, including the sustainability of confederation and [domestic] competitions, as well as the organisation and commercial landscape surrounding the AFC’s activities.” Uefa’s previous boycott threat A threatened World Cup boycott from Europe helped derail Infantino’s plan in 2021 to play World Cups every two years instead of four.

Fifa says it is not ‘selling football’ as Uefa vows World Cup boycott over Infantino plan

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}World governing body says ⁠it will not create subsidiary without ⁠majority support after widespread condemnation of president’s idea

World governing body says ⁠it will not create subsidiary without ⁠majority support after widespread condemnation of president’s idea