UEFA votes to boycott World Cup over FIFA investor plan

European football’s governing body, UEFA, voted unanimously to boycott FIFA competitions if the world governing body proceeds with plans to create a new commercial subsidiary valued at $20 billion (roughly €17.5 billion) and sell a non-controlling minority stake in it to investors.

The subsidiary would be responsible for FIFA’s commercial rights like broadcast, sponsorship, ticketing and licensing contracts for its competitions, including the World Cup.

UEFA’s 55 members met to discuss a response to FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s controversial plans.

“No UEFA national teams will participate in any FIFA competition for so long as these proposals remain alive, unless this proposal has been abandoned in its entirety and binding assurances have been given that FIFA will never again open its governance or competitions to private ownership,” UEFA said in a statement.

“The World Cup cannot be treated as an investment product… No part of it should ever be surrendered to private investors. The World Cup is not for sale,” the statement added.

Shortly after, North America’s soccer body CONCACAF unanimously rejected the FIFA plan, though it stopped short of a boycott.

UEFA swiftly rejected FIFA’s proposal

UEFA had come out publicly in opposition to the plan within an hour of it first being reported by the Financial Times and Times on Tuesday.

Shortly after the newspaper reports, FIFA, the sport’s global governing body, issued a statement confirming the plan.

In a later statement, it gave FIFA’s 211 member associations until September 19 to express their written support for the scheme. The proposal requires a simple majority and approval from the FIFA Council to pass. 

Even before Thursday’s meeting, UEFA had doubled down on its criticism after learning of the deadline, saying: “Today we have learned of FIFA’s deadline to associations to support their proposals or have the one-off payout offer withdrawn. This says everything ​you need to know about this plan.

It added that talks with many stakeholders showed that “there is significant and growing opposition to FIFA’s scheme. FIFA cannot to use our sport to enrich themselves and their friends.”

DFB: FIFA plan ‘problematic and unacceptable’

Germany’s mass-circulation Bild paper reported that key UEFA officials including German FA (DFB) President Bernd Neuendorf had already discussed the FIFA plans via a video call on Wednesday.

“We must not lose the fans’ support, but we are well on the way to squandering that,” he told public broadcaster ZDF. “I consider this to be extremely problematic and unacceptable.

“If UEFA rejects this request (for approval of the plan), then it is dead, because I believe that you won’t be able to find any investor who would be willing to go ahead with this project if UEFA is out,” he added.

Other critics have expressed fears that the deal could lead to more tournaments, teams and matches to increase revenue and boost the value of investors’ stakes.

UEFA hasn’t been the only confederation to criticize the report. CONCACAF, responsible for North and Central America, as well as the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) have also expressed concerns that the proposal was made public without their consultation while the African confederation (CAF) have said they will discuss the plans next week. 

Members of the FIFA Council, including Neuendorf, have said they were not consulted on the latest proposal.

FIFA: Subsidiary could raise billions ‘this year’

FIFA has said the new subsidiary, to be known as FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) would be valued at $20 billion and that it would aim to raise up to $4.2 billion “this year” by “carefully selecting long-term investors who will purchase minority, non-controlling interests” in the company. 

Under the ​plan, FIFA said it could make $10 billion available for development beginning in 2027. Each federation would be eligible for up to $20 ​million in one-time Fast Forward funding, in addition to $20 million through the regular FIFA Forward program during the 2027-30 ⁠cycle. Without ​approval, FIFA projects a development package of about $2.7 billion.

Infantino: ‘A golden opportunity’

In the face of the opposition, FIFA President Gianni Infantino released a video on Wednesday evening, describing the project a “golden opportunity to turbocharge the development of the game globally.”

He added that the proposal was “part of a democratic process” and in comments directed to football fans, he stressed that “the sport they watch and love will not change.”

Edited by: Matt Pearson