Zurich: All 55 Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) member associations have unanimously backed a boycott of F©d©ration Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) competitions if world football's governing body proceeds with plans to sell stakes in its tournaments to private investors, according to a statement issued after an emergency meeting on Thursday. UEFA said its member associations 'stand as one' and have 'unanimously and unequivocally' rejected FIFA's proposal to transfer ownership interests in the FIFA World Cup and other competitions to private investors.
According to Philippines News Agency, as a result of the discussions, UEFA's statement emphasized that no national teams from UEFA will participate in any FIFA competition for as long as these proposals are active unless they are completely abandoned and binding assurances are given that FIFA will never again consider private ownership of its governance or competitions. UEFA stressed that the World Cup should not be treated as an investment product and that it represents one of football's greatest sporting legacies which should not be surrendered to private investors.
UEFA also criticized FIFA's handling of the proposal, pointing out that it was 'conceived in secret and brought to the brink of approval without any meaningful consultation' with football stakeholders. They described this approach as not only a significant leadership failure but also an abdication of FIFA's responsibility as the guardian of world football.
The emergency meeting was convened in response to growing opposition to FIFA President Gianni Infantino's proposal to establish FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), a commercial subsidiary that would manage the World Cup and other commercial operations. Earlier this week, FIFA indicated that FFE would remain majority-owned and controlled by FIFA, with outside investors holding only a minority stake and having no role in football governance or sporting decisions. The governing body argued that the proposal would increase development funding for its 211 member associations and would only proceed if approved by a majority of them.
