Europe Still Plans to Boycott World Cups, UEFA Says

UEFA’s FIFA boycott is still in place, the European confederation said Thursday.

The 55 European federations voted unanimously to suspend their participation in FIFA competitions—including World Cups—at an emergency meeting on July 30. One week later, the European governing body remains dissatisfied, despite FIFA president Gianni Infantino calling off his widely panned plans to sell shares of the World Cup.

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“UEFA’s associations were very clear about the conditions attached to the non-participation in FIFA competitions,” the governing body said in a statement. “First, the proposals to sell off the major competitions had to be withdrawn, and secondly, assurances have to be made that such attempts to disfigure the game in this way will never be made again. These conditions have not been met.”

UEFA also reiterated its lack of confidence in Infantino and his future as FIFA president in the statement.

Infantino convened FIFA’s top officials at a crisis meeting Wednesday in Morocco as he sought to preserve support for his presidency. In an unsigned statement afterwards, FIFA’s leadership acknowledged “errors” in how the proposal was handled, apologized to its 211 member associations for excluding them from “the process,” and promised that an internal review “will now be conducted.” The statement added that the “successful delivery of the FIFA World Cup” would not have been possible without Infantino.

“FIFA’s top management is fully confident that the outcomes of today’s meeting will strengthen FIFA’s governance, help restore confidence in the organisation and enable us to prepare for the major events and challenges ahead,” the statement read.

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The statement also said that Infantino has the “full support” of FIFA’s management board and secretary general Mattias Grafström.

But in an internal email obtained by the Associated Press, Grafström sought to reassure FIFA staff that they would be protected from the fallout of the FFE.

“You do not need to worry,” Grafström wrote Tuesday. “I assure you that you as members of the administration, you will be defended and safeguarded from the political context we currently experience.”

“We have all been thrown into the middle of a turmoil, which is difficult to comprehend and accept,” Grafström added.

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FIFA COO Kevin Lamour was not invited to the meeting in Morocco after previously saying that senior staff was “deceived” by Infantino. While Lamour remains with the governing body, Carlos Cordeiro, a former senior adviser to Infantino, resigned from his position, saying he had no involvement with the proposal and that he strongly opposed it.

Calls for Infantino’s departure have grown in recent days. Former Portugal star Luis Figo—who ran for FIFA president himself in 2015—said “Infantino must go,” while Jordanian federation president Prince Ali bin Hussein ruled out endorsing him in a social media post.

Finland, Wales, and Serbia have withdrawn their endorsements of the FIFA president, and England followed on Thursday. Infantino has retained support from several federations in Africa and Asia, including Qatar, Egypt, Morocco, and the UAE.

Infantino is seeking a fourth term in FIFA’s March 2027 presidential election, though several European federations have already withdrawn their endorsements of him following the collapse of the FFE. Victor Montagliani, the president of CONCACAF, has been widely viewed as the challenger best-positioned to run against Infantino. No candidate has yet said they plan to step forward and run against Infantino, who was widely viewed as on a glide path to re-election until the FFE debacle.

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FIFPRO also condemned the proposal Wednesday, saying it would permanently alter the ownership and governance of the World Cup. The global players’ union called the plan “a profound abuse of power” before delivering a set of demands for “structural safeguards to ensure these events can never be repeated.”

“The players did not create this crisis,” FIFPRO said in the statement. “They will insist that football emerges from it with stronger institutions, stronger safeguards and leadership worthy of the trust the game demands.”

The next FIFA event begins Sept. 5 with the U-20 Women’s World Cup in Poland, where six European nations are set to compete.

The general secretary of the Polish Football Association previously said the association believed the boycott would end quickly, with the tournament expected to proceed as scheduled. With UEFA continuing its boycott threat, the participation of European teams remains up in the air.

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The U-20 Women’s World Cup could be the first of several events impacted by any prospective European boycott lasts an extended period of time. The biggest of those is the FIFA Women’s World Cup, which will be held in Brazil and will kick off in July 2027.

Asked whether the UEFA boycott will affect the U-20 Women’s World Cup in September, a representative from the governing body had “no further comment.”

A representative for FIFA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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