{"id":567158,"date":"2026-07-30T16:28:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T16:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/567158\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T16:28:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T16:28:08","slug":"uefa-agrees-to-boycott-fifa-competitions-if-world-cup-sell-off-plans-proceed-uefa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/567158\/","title":{"rendered":"Uefa agrees to boycott Fifa competitions if World Cup sell-off plans proceed | Uefa"},"content":{"rendered":"

European countries have agreed to boycott all Fifa competitions if Gianni Infantino pushes forward with his proposals to sell chunks of the World Cup<\/a> to US-based private investment.<\/p>\n

In an extraordinary development all 55 Uefa members resolved not to participate in future World Cups or other Fifa-run events, saying in a statement that they \u201cunanimously and unequivocally reject\u201d the proposals. An emergency meeting that lasted just short of two hours ended with a united front despite earlier fears that smaller countries, attracted by the money on offer through Infantino\u2019s scheme, would be swayed in favour.<\/p>\n

It means Infantino faces an uphill battle to push his plan forward. Countries had been given until 19 September to sign up but there will now be significant pressure to drastically revise his scheme or withdraw it completely. While the majority of European FAs had submitted letters of support in favour of his re-election next March, such a decisive line in the sand from Uefa<\/a> weakens his position dramatically.<\/p>\n

Uefa\u2019s statement confirmed the decision. \u201cAs a result of today\u2019s 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,\u201d it read.<\/p>\n

The heads of more than 20 FAs are understood to have spoken in Uefa\u2019s meeting, which was introduced by its president, Aleksander Ceferin. Among those to offer their view was Debbie Hewitt, the president of the FA, who one attender said gave a \u201cvery tough\u201d exposition in favour of a boycott.<\/p>\n

That was backed up in a statement by an FA spokesperson that read: \u201cWe stand shoulder to shoulder with our European colleagues and fully support the collective view. We oppose Fifa\u2019s plans \u2013 the Fifa World Cup belongs to football and always will.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along the lines spelled out by Uefa, at senior level the proposed boycott would begin with next year\u2019s Women\u2019s World Cup, while the first age-group Fifa tournament to be boycotted is likely to be the Under-20 Women\u2019s World Cup. It is due to take place in Poland from 5 September with six of the 24 competitors, including England, due to represent Uefa countries.<\/p>\n

England\u2019s women\u2019s team also have a two-legged World Cup qualifying playoff tie against Greece in October, which would be a major test of the FA\u2019s resolve if Fifa refuse to back down.<\/p>\n

The European governing body invited other confederations to follow their lead. Uefa are understood to be confident that a number of Asian countries, in particular, are similarly minded. Infantino\u2019s strongholds traditionally lie outside Europe and a collapse in support elsewhere could have severe consequences for the Fifa president.<\/p>\n

\u201cNational associations around the world are now presented with an ultimatum: accept the irreversible capture of football\u2019s greatest competitions or bear the consequences,\u201d Uefa said. \u201cThis is not a \u2018democratic decision\u2019, but governance by intimidation \u2013 an act of coercion unworthy of an institution entrusted with the stewardship of the global game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sources within European football believe Uefa\u2019s decision increases the chances of a Europe-backed candidate running against Infantino in next year\u2019s Fifa election, which he had been expected to sail through without opposition.<\/p>\n

Uefa has also held talks with the North American confederation Concacaf, who have expressed their opposition to Fifa\u2019s plans but have yet to announce their support for a boycott.<\/p>\n

The 41 Concacaf nations have arranged their own emergency meeting for 5.30pm UK time to discuss their own response to the crisis, with an announcement expected later on Thursday evening.<\/p>\n

A number of European national associations are understood to have held talks with their respective governments over the matter, many of whom have backed a boycott in private.<\/p>\n

The new UK prime minister, Andy Burnham, was the first politician to criticise Fifa\u2019s plan on Tuesday evening, writing on X that the World Cup \u201cwas never anyone\u2019s to sell\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"European countries have agreed to boycott all Fifa competitions if Gianni Infantino pushes forward with his proposals to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":567159,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-567158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567158"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567158\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/567159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}