{"id":845868,"date":"2026-08-06T18:12:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T18:12:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/845868\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T18:12:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T18:12:25","slug":"uefa-maintains-that-world-cup-boycott-still-stands-despite-infantinos-apology-uefa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/845868\/","title":{"rendered":"Uefa maintains that World Cup boycott still stands despite Infantino\u2019s apology | Uefa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Uefa has doubled down on its threat to boycott Fifa-run competitions<\/a> and reiterated its loss of confidence in Gianni Infantino\u2019s presidency.<\/p>\n

European football\u2019s governing body said Fifa\u2019s public backing of Infantino<\/a> on Wednesday night \u201cchanges nothing\u201d and explained it had not been provided with certainty that repeats of the past nine days\u2019 crisis will not occur. Last week Uefa\u2019s 55 member associations agreed to boycott Fifa tournaments if Infantino did not withdraw his privately-funded Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) and, although the scheme was scrapped last Friday, it said the terms necessary to avert the boycott have not been met.<\/p>\n

\u201cUefa\u2019s associations were very clear about the conditions attached to their non participation in Fifa<\/a> competitions,\u201d a statement read. \u201cFirst, the proposals to sell off the major competitions had to be withdrawn and secondly, assurances have to be made that such attempts to disfigure the game in this way will never be made again.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese conditions have not been met. In addition, Uefa made it abundantly clear in its statement on Saturday that it has lost confidence in Gianni Infantino\u2019s presidency. That position holds. Yesterday\u2019s announcement that some people employed by the Fifa president (and whose careers depend on his favour) agree with him changes nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

It leaves the turmoil enveloping football\u2019s governance no closer to being resolved. If no accord is reached before the Under-20 Women\u2019s World Cup<\/a>, which begins in Poland on 5 September, that would be the first tournament subjected to a Uefa-led boycott.<\/p>\n

Uefa remain hopeful that they can exploit divisions within Fifa\u2019s leadership despite the Infantino-led show of unity following a meeting of some of their management board in Rabat on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

There were several notable absentees, however, and the Guardian has been told that Ars\u00e8ne Wenger declined an invitation to travel to Morocco in his capacity as Fifa\u2019s chief of global development because of a desire to distance himself from Infantino.<\/p>\n

The former Arsenal manager had launched a scathing attack<\/a> on the World Cup sell-off plans the previous day, saying it was \u201cabsolutely necessary and beyond question\u201d that they were scrapped, as well as calling for greater \u201ctransparency and integrity\u201d from his employers.<\/p>\n

In contrast to Wenger, Fifa\u2019s chief operating officer Kevin Lamour, who last week described the proposals as \u201cthe project of one person\u201d, was not invited to the summit in a development that will raise further questions over his future. In addition Jill Ellis, chief football officer, and Sarai Bareman, chief women\u2019s football officer, were not present in Rabat.<\/p>\n

While Fifa\u2019s statement explained that separate apologies had been made to the Fifa council and member associations for their exclusion from the FFE process and that it was committed to a review, the Guardian understands those sentiments cut no ice with a large percentage of Fifa council members and that the mood remains unhappy.<\/p>\n

Uefa\u2019s repeat of their boycott threat was followed by the release of another strongly worded statement from global players\u2019 union, Fifpro, that condemned Fifa and Infantino for their alleged abuse of power.<\/p>\n

On the eve of the World Cup in June Fifpro had signalled their intention to work with Fifa by signing a memorandum of understanding, which included ending their involvement in a legal case brought by the World Leagues lobby group. That agreement has proved to be the briefest of truces.<\/p>\n

Alongside the strong criticism, Fifpro also wrote to Fifa making a series of demands, including giving players voting rights on the Fifa council, which is supposed to be the main decision-making body but in reality has often been bypassed by Infantino.<\/p>\n

\u201cFifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) is gone, but the abuse of power that produced it is not,\u201d Fifpro said. \u201cGovernance reforms, not a cover-up, are urgently needed. The withdrawal of FFE was inevitable. But withdrawing the proposal does not erase what it revealed. Governance reforms, not a cover-up, are urgently needed.<\/p>\n

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\u201cA plan capable of permanently altering the ownership and governance of the Fifa World Cup, and commercialising the competitions built by generations of players, was conceived in secrecy, negotiated behind closed doors and brought to the brink of agreement before the Fifa council, the member associations, players and football\u2019s recognised stakeholders even knew it existed. That is not merely a governance failure. It is a profound abuse of presidential power.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have noted Fifa\u2019s internal update from its meeting in Rabat, Morocco, with deep concern. Rather than confronting what happened, it reaffirms support for the organisation\u2019s leadership while reducing a fundamental governance and constitutional failure to a matter of \u2018processes and communications\u2019 to be \u2018improved\u2019. That is not merely a governance failure. It is a profound abuse of presidential power.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier on Thursday the Jordan Football Association president, Prince Ali bin al-Hussein, said Fifa had paid bonuses owed to its national team from last December\u2019s Arab Cup but clarified that he would still not support Infantino. The money appears to have materialised within 48 hours of Prince Ali accusing Fifa of \u201cblackmail\u201d<\/a>, saying the governing body had threatened to withhold financial assistance from his federation if it refused to back Infantino\u2019s bid for re-election.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you to the Fifa administration for suddenly this morning delivering what was owed to our players and coaching staff, for the Jordan National team\u2019s accession to the final of the Fifa Arab Cup in Qatar last December,\u201d he wrote on X.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was funding that should have been received eight months ago. While this is a good development for our players, it does not change the serious concerns we in the football world have regarding the Fifa leadership, nor does it change what our FAs have been subjected to in the past.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is symptomatic of those exact difficulties that we all face, and that are usually linked to the Fifa presidential elections. And it does not change my clear position concerning the leadership of Fifa: my FA and I will not endorse president Infantino, nor will we vote for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clubs around the world remain engaged in an even longer wait for their share of Fifa\u2019s \u00a3185m solidarity money pot held over from last year\u2019s Club World Cup. It was intended to ensure a proportion of the event\u2019s funding was spread throughout the football pyramid but the Guardian reported in February<\/a> that frustration was growing at the delay in its distribution. That continues to be the case even though the \u00a3740m prize money pot for those competing was released promptly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Uefa has doubled down on its threat to boycott Fifa-run competitions and reiterated its loss of confidence in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":845869,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-845868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845868","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=845868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/845869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=845868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=845868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=845868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}