The 55 member associations of the Union of European Football Association(UEFA) have unanimously voted to boycott the World Cup and all other FIFA competitions in protest at FIFA’s plan to sell stakes of up to 20 per cent in a new subsidiary set to run the tournaments, the European football’s governing body said following a virtual emergency meeting yesterday.
FIFA announced plans on Tuesday to create a $20 billion subsidiary to run the World Cup and its other events, offering external investors a stake in the venture. UEFA said the plan amounted to selling off part of the game’s heritage.
‘The World Cup cannot be treated as an investment product. It is one of football’s greatest sporting legacies. It has been built over generations by players, national teams and supporters across every continent,’ UEFA said in a statement. ‘No part of it should ever be surrendered to private investors. The World Cup is not for sale.’
UEFA said the boycott would hold ‘for so long as these proposals remain alive,’ unless FIFA abandons the plan entirely and gives binding assurances that its competitions will never again be opened to private ownership. The federation described the process behind the proposal as conceived ‘in secret’ and brought forward ‘without any meaningful consultation’ with national associations, calling it ‘governance by intimidation’ rather than a democratic decision.
The Asian Football Confederation and CONCACAF also criticised FIFA’s proposal, saying they too were not consulted before it was announced.
By contrast, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has taken a more cautious line than UEFA, confirming it received formal correspondence from FIFA on the proposal – referred to as the FIFA Forward Enterprise initiative – as part of an ongoing consultation process with FIFA member associations and the FIFA Council.
CAF President Patrice Motsepe will convene a meeting of the CAF Executive Committee next week to assess and evaluate the proposal, the confederation said in a statement. CAF encouraged its own member associations to examine the plan and take part in the consultation process ‘in accordance with CAF and FIFA’s regulations and established procedures.’
Unlike UEFA, CAF stopped short of criticising FIFA’s process or signalling any boycott threat, instead framing its role as part of continued engagement with FIFA and other confederations ‘in support of increasing financial and other resources for the development and growth of football in Africa and worldwide.’
The dispute is already reshaping FIFA’s near-term calendar. Poland is due to host the FIFA Women’s Under-20 World Cup from 5 September – the first FIFA-run tournament that would test whether the boycott holds – while the separate Women’s World Cup in Brazil next year and FIFA’s inaugural Under-15 World Cup in Azerbaijan this October also stand to be affected should the standoff continue.