European football\u2019s governing body UEFA said on Thursday it would boycott the World Cup if FIFA pressed ahead with its private investor plan. <\/p>\n
\u201cNo 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 bindingassurances have been given that FIFA will never again open its governance or competitions to private ownership,\u201d UEFA said in a statement. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe 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.\u201d On Tuesday, football\u2019s world governing body FIFA announced plans to create a commercial subsidiary to run its biggest events, such as the World Cup and Club World Cup. <\/p>\n
Under the proposal, private investors would be allowed to acquire stakes in the company but would remain minority shareholders, FIFA said. <\/p>\n
It hopes to raise up to $4.2 billion based on a valuation of $20 billion for the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) initiative. <\/p>\n
If approved, the project could provide each of FIFA\u2019s 211 member associations with a one-off payment of $20 million in early 2027 and increase their funding allocation for the2027-2030 cycle from $8.0 million to $20 million. <\/p>\n
FIFA president Gianni Infantino described the initiative on Wednesday as a \u201cgolden opportunity to turbocharge the developmentof the game globally\u201d. <\/p>\n
But UEFA, whose president Aleksander Ceferin boycotted the World Cup final to show unhappiness with FIFA, argued: \u201cThis model has no place in world football.\u201d \u201cFootball\u2019s future cannot be dictated by the expectations of thosewhose first duty is to maximise financial return. <\/p>\n
\u201cNor can the interests of national associations, leagues, clubs, players and supporters become subordinate to investor returns.Football cannot mortgage its future for financial gain,\u201d Ceferin said. <\/p>\n
\u201cEurope\u2019s position is clear. We will never lend this model our legitimacy. No one has the moral authority to sell what theymerely hold in trust for the next generation.\u201d The FIFA proposal has drawn criticism from not only UEFA but also several leading European federations and European Union officials,who view it as another step in the commercialisation of sport and have raised concerns over potential conflicts of interest. <\/p>\n
The EU praised UEFA on Thursday for \u201cdefending the integrity of the game\u201d. \u201cI welcome this UEFA statement and fully supportits position,\u201d European commissioner for sports Glenn Micallef said in a social media post. <\/p>\n
\u201cProud to see Europe\u2019s football associations leading on governance, standing firm on their principles,\u201d he posted.<\/p>\n
The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) have also expressed concern that the FIFA proposal was made public before all 211 member associations were fully consulted. <\/p>\n
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has urged its members to review FIFA\u2019s diversive plan. <\/p>\n
– Never for sale –<\/p>\n
UEFA said in its statement on Thursday that the World Cup was \u201cone of football\u2019s greatest sporting legacies…. built overgenerations by players, national teams and supporters across every continent.\u201d \u201cIt is both irresponsible and indefensiblethat a proposal of such significance for football was conceived in secret and brought to the brink of approval without anymeaningful consultation with those entrusted with stewarding the game,\u201d UEFA said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not merely a profound failure of leadership but an abdication of FIFA\u2019s duty as the custodian of world football. <\/p>\n
\u201cNational associations around the world are now presented with an ultimatum — accept the irreversible capture of football\u2019sgreatest competitions or bear the consequences. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not a \u2018democratic decision\u2019 but governance by intimidation — an act of coercion unworthy of an institution entrustedwith the stewardship of the global game.\u201d UEFA added: \u201cNobody should be in any doubt — UEFA and its national associationswill oppose these plans with absolute determination. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere are moments when institutions are judged not by what they are prepared to accept but by what they refuse to compromise.This is one of those moments. <\/p>\n
\u201cSome 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"European football\u2019s governing body UEFA said on Thursday it would boycott the World Cup if FIFA pressed ahead…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":834249,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[406230,406245,406203,406267,406249,383309,406211,406241,384828,406281,388270,406206,406233,406214,36497,406251,406248,406226,406231,406261,394232,377586,376769,406204,406222,406269,54181,271605,406201,406210,406236,400076,406284,406290,396442,406287,406221,406283,406288,74752,64,63,406272,406264,406218,406276,2791,37726,23816,251791,406253,22710,56957,406259,128547,406200,2057,406266,122482,406274,406225,406250,13201,406270,406252,386479,406242,321594,406235,58430,596,406268,406220,406243,10834,406238,64745,34528,3208,247029,406232,406240,406285,387886,406258,406215,406279,406265,406216,1871,129780,406255,324879,406209,70738,377271,398272,381232,406229,47,406247,406197,6622,1917,7820,406262,66215,406237,111572,406198,406219,7134,406212,380332,588,85,406286,406246,109384,406260,376492,406228,44731,406257,406289,406199,406275,406277,406208,406217,406271,74713,406278,406234,406207,400596,406273,406244,390062,63784,127376,406224,359749,54798,72503,385415,406256,406239,406202,406280,406254,406227,406223,401334,406205,392358,406282,9357,25224,28333,30835,406263,41313,406213,12632,21418,61620],"class_list":["post-834248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-democratic-decision","tag-s-211-member-associations","tag-s-diversive-plan","tag-s-duty","tag-s-football-associations","tag-s-future","tag-s-governing-body-uefa","tag-s-greatest-sporting-legacies","tag-s-position","tag-s-world-cups","tag-s-world-governing-body","tag-20-billion","tag-4-2-billion","tag-8-0-million-to-20-million","tag-20-million","tag-a-golden-opportunity","tag-a-boycott","tag-a-commercial-subsidiary","tag-a-one-off-payment","tag-a-profound-failure","tag-a-proposal","tag-a-social-media-post","tag-a-statement","tag-a-valuation","tag-a-voice","tag-absolute-determination","tag-afc","tag-african-football","tag-all-211-member-associations","tag-all-future-men","tag-an-abdication","tag-an-act","tag-an-institution","tag-an-investment-product","tag-an-ultimatum","tag-another-step","tag-any-doubt","tag-any-fifa-competition","tag-anymeaningful-consultation","tag-approval","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bindingassurances","tag-caf","tag-caribbean-association-football","tag-ceferin","tag-central-america","tag-club-world-cup","tag-clubs","tag-coercion","tag-concacaf","tag-concern","tag-concerns","tag-confederation","tag-criticism","tag-early-2027","tag-europe","tag-european-commissioner","tag-european-football","tag-european-union-officials","tag-every-continent","tag-ffe","tag-fifa","tag-fifa-boss-gianni-infantino","tag-fifa-plan","tag-fifa-president-gianni-infantino","tag-fifa-sale-proposal","tag-financial-gain","tag-financial-return","tag-firm","tag-football","tag-footballsgreatest-competitions","tag-future-world-cups","tag-glenn-micallef","tag-governance","tag-his-controversial-plan","tag-initiative","tag-institutions","tag-interest","tag-intimidation","tag-investor-returns-football","tag-its-biggest-events","tag-its-entirety","tag-its-future","tag-its-governance-or-competitions","tag-its-members","tag-its-national-associationswill","tag-its-private-investor-plan","tag-its-statement","tag-leadership","tag-leagues","tag-minority-shareholders","tag-moments","tag-national-associations","tag-national-teams","tag-no-one","tag-no-part","tag-no-place","tag-no-uefa-national-teams","tag-north","tag-our-legitimacy","tag-overgenerations","tag-part","tag-plans","tag-players","tag-players-and-supporters","tag-position","tag-potential-conflicts","tag-private-investors","tag-private-investors-the","tag-private-ownership","tag-sale","tag-several-leading-european-federations","tag-some-things","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-stakes","tag-such-significance","tag-supporters","tag-the-asian-football-confederation","tag-the-brink","tag-the-commercialisation","tag-the-company","tag-the-confederation","tag-the-consequences","tag-the-custodian","tag-the-developmentof","tag-the-eu","tag-the-expectations","tag-the-fifa-proposal","tag-the-fifa-world-cup","tag-the-game","tag-the-global-game","tag-the-initiative","tag-the-integrity","tag-the-interests","tag-the-irreversible-capture","tag-the-moral-authority","tag-the-next-generation","tag-the-project","tag-the-proposal","tag-the-stewardship","tag-the-tournament","tag-the-world","tag-the-world-cup","tag-the-world-cup-final","tag-the2027-2030-cycle","tag-their-funding-allocation","tag-their-principles","tag-these-plans","tag-these-proposals","tag-theymerely","tag-this-model","tag-this-proposal","tag-this-uefa-statement","tag-those-moments","tag-thosewhose-first-duty","tag-thursday","tag-trust","tag-tuesday","tag-uefa","tag-unhappiness","tag-wednesday","tag-whose-president-aleksander-ceferin","tag-women","tag-world-cup","tag-world-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=834248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/834249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=834248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=834248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=834248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}