Official Statement

All UEFA member nations threaten FIFA with a World Cup boycott

FIFA President Gianni Infantino(Bild: AP/Eduardo Verdugo)

A bombshell! All 55 UEFA member associations have voted to support a boycott of the men’s and women’s World Cups if FIFA President Gianni Infantino continues to push ahead with his privatization plans. Europe’s soccer governing body announced this following an emergency virtual meeting on Thursday. 

“As a result of today’s deliberations, no UEFA national teams will participate in FIFA competitions as long as these plans are pursued —unless the proposal is completely withdrawn and FIFA provides binding guarantees that it will never again open its governance structures or competitions to private ownership,” states the UEFA letter signed by all national associations.

Here is UEFA’s official statement:

“Now is one such moment”
And it gets even clearer: “UEFA and its member associations will fight these plans with the utmost determination. There are moments when institutions are not judged by what they are willing to accept, but by what they will never agree to. That moment is now. Some things are simply too important to sell. The FIFA World Cup belongs to soccer. It has always belonged to it—and it will always belong to it. As long as Europe has a voice, it will never be for sale.”

Europe’s governing body makes it clear: Even if a majority of the 211 member nations were to vote in favor of the investor deal, it would not support that decision.

(Bild: Krone-Collage/EPA/BOB FRID, AFP/PREDRAG MILOSAVLJEVIC)

Infantino Under Pressure
Infantino, whose federation unveiled the surprising plans on Tuesday, is now under significant pressure. Without the European nations—including World Cup champions Spain, England, France, and Germany—the World Cup would completely lose its sporting value. Despite harsh criticism of the investor plans, Infantino justified the planned involvement of external investors in a video message released on Thursday as “a unique opportunity to significantly accelerate the global development of soccer.” Critics accuse him of being primarily concerned with his own personal profit and that of his business partners.

Infantino responded with the video to the storm of outrage that he himself had sparked with his speculative ideas. He countered the accusations and initially described the investor plans in the video message as a proposal that was “part of a democratic process.” After all, a majority of FIFA’s 211 member associations, as well as the FIFA Council, would have to approve the plan in the first place. However, it already seems clear that, aside from the opposition from Europe—which the Austrian Football Association (ÖFB) also supports—the idea is likely to find support among smaller member nations in particular, simply because they hope for a significant increase in revenue.

A lot of money is at stake
A little over a week after the World Cup final in the U.S., FIFA President Infantino made it known that he intends to generate billions through the potential sale of a portion of FIFA’s commercial rights, such as those related to the World Cup. According to current information, FIFA is expected to generate more than four billion U.S. dollars (around 3.5 billion euros) in revenue from this, from which the participating federations should also benefit.

However, many critics are not buying his assurances. Less than two weeks after the World Cup final in the U.S., they see their fears confirmed that FIFA, by selling a portion of its commercial rights to competitions, is allowing the sport to become a pawn of investors once and for all. The logic behind this: even more tournaments with even more teams and matches would boost revenue and profits, thereby also increasing the value of the previously sold stakes.

(Bild: EPA/SHAWN THEW)

  Under the proposed deal, private investors would be able to acquire approximately 20 percent of the shares in a newly established subsidiary called FFE (FIFA Forward Enterprise), whose value is initially set at $20 billion. FFE would consolidate the commercial rights to FIFA competitions such as the Men’s and Women’s World Cups and the Club World Cup. With this move, Infantino could also become CEO of the new company after serving another term as president, thereby continuing to wield significant influence within the FIFA universe even after 15 years in office.

The natural next step?
The Swiss official held out the prospect that, with investor support and through the “FIFA Fast Forward Program,” every member association could multiply its revenue. Infantino argued that since FIFA had fundamentally transformed its competitions, among other things, over the past decade, it must now follow through financially as well: “Strengthening the commercial side of soccer is the natural next step in this development.”