UEFA Federations Boycott FIFA Competitions Over World Cup Stake Sale Plan
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UEFA's 55 member federations will boycott all FIFA competitions, protesting President Gianni Infantino's secret plan to sell 20% stakes in the World Cup's commercial operations to private equity, including a firm linked to Joshua Kushner.
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FIFA President Gianni Infantino proposed selling 20% stakes in the World Cup's commercial operations to private investors. UEFA's 55 member federations will boycott all FIFA competitions, citing a profound failure of leadership.
Uefa member federations agreed on Thursday to boycott all Fifa competitions in protest of Gianni Infantino’s plan to sell stakes in the World Cup to private equity investors.
“Uefa and its national associations will not participate in Fifa competitions,” the European football body said after an urgent online meeting of the 55 members.
“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.
Infantino’s secret proposal was revealed on Tuesday to spin off its commercial operations in a new US$20 billion 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.
“This is not merely a profound failure of leadership, but an abdication of Fifa’s duty as the custodian of world football,” said Uefa, where Infantino was a long-time staffer and its CEO-like general secretary when he was first elected to lead Fifa in 2016.
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UEFA and its national associations will not participate in FIFA competitions.
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Preguntas abiertas
- How will other confederations react to UEFA's boycott?
- What is FIFA's next step regarding the private equity deal?
- What specific competitions will UEFA members boycott?
