Europe votes to boycott FIFA competitions as protest over plan to privatize World Cup
“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.”
GENEVA — UEFA member federations agreed Thursday to boycott all FIFA competitions in protest of FIFA president 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 soccer 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 Infantino’s offer of $20 million to each of FIFA’s 211 global members that has to be accepted by mid-September.
Infantino’s secret proposal was revealed Tuesday to spin off its commercial operations in a new $20 billion subsidiary 20% owned by private investors. The core investor would be a New York investment firm created by Joshua Kushner, the brother of U.S. 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 longtime staffer and its CEO-like general secretary when he was first elected to lead FIFA in 2016.
“The moment external investors acquire ownership interests in FIFA competitions, football changes forever,” UEFA said. “Commercial return becomes a permanent obligation. Investor expectations become a daily pressure.”
Infantino has presented the private equity offer as a chance to “turbocharge” funding development of soccer across the world. A majority of the 211 FIFA members rely on its funding.
Officials from about 40 UEFA members spoke at the urgent meeting, with anger expressed that FIFA is not using some of its multibillion reserves to fund extra development programs.
The Athletic reported that Concacaf, the regional governing body for North and Central America (including the United States), will have a meeting of its members Thursday afternoon.
“We share the disappointment of many within our region and the game that this level of detail has been designed and shared publicly before any discussion with the relevant governance bodies and stakeholders has taken place,” Concacaf said in a statement Wednesday.
U.S. Soccer hasn’t commented yet.
The next scheduled FIFA tournament is in Europe — the Women’s Under-20 World Cup hosted by Poland starting Sept. 5. The following month, Europe stages its last qualifying playoffs for next summer’s women’s World Cup in Brazil.
Inquirer staff writer Jonathan Tannenwald contributed to this article.