On July 30th of this year, European nations decided to withdraw from the World Cup due to FIFA’s new plans. The plan was to sell a minority stake of a new entity, which will take over FIFA’s commercial operations, to private investors. UEFA nations unanimously agreed to reject the proposal and subsequently boycott the World Cup.
The intention to sell a minority stake of this new entity to private investors was to raise $4.2 billion dollars. However, the FFE, the new entity, is still a part of FIFA, birthing the narrative of FIFA selling part of itself. To add insult to injury, FIFA is a nonprofit, which makes selling parts of it to private investors go against its core purposes.
A UEFA spokesperson said, “As a result of today’s discussion, 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 Spokesperson
FIFA is, to many people, an international football icon for football. To sell parts of it off to private investors for their own purposes is a betrayal to the sports and to everyone who watches and supports FIFA. In the 470-word statement, UEFA stated: “Some things are simply too important to sell. The FIFA World Cup belongs to football. It always will. And so long as Europe has a voice, it will never be for sale.” This statement is further strengthened considering by the fact that UEFA makes up a majority of the teams and clubs in world football.
Other UEFA member associations, like Norway, England, Scotland, and more, who have often criticized FIFA and its leader Gianni Infantino. These associations also came out with their own statements in defense of EUFA with their own statements. Concacaf shortened for: (The Confederation of North, Central America, and Caribbean Association Football) even accused FIFA of not consulting its federations a lack of consultation.
The Asian confederation also came out to state their disappointment that such an important matter went public before, “the AFC family had been afforded the opportunity to examine and discuss it through the appropriate and established governance channels.”
Infantino responded with a video defending the proposal on July 29th in an interview with FIFA. He stated the proposal, “strengthen[s] the commercial side of the game,” which is “the natural next step in (FIFA’s) evolution.”