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Collective Position Against International Federation Development Plan
The standoff between the International Football Federation (FIFA) and the European Union (UEFA) has reached an unprecedented level after European teams threatened to boycott the World Cup if Gianni Infantino went ahead with his controversial plan to privatize the tournament.
FIFA’s much-criticised president was previously reported to be planning to set up a sister company called FIFA Forward Enterprise to manage its tournaments, notably the World Cup, before selling most of his stake to private investors, a project which European Union President Aleksandar Ceferin described as “crossing all the lines”.
Today, UEFA held an emergency meeting with its 55 member associations, after which it made a historic decision, confirming with an official statement.
At the same time, the spokesman of the English Football Association said in decisive statements reported by the newspaper.The sunBritish. “We stand with our European partners and fully support their collective position.”
The representative of the English Football Association added: “We are against FIFA’s plans. The World Cup belongs to football and will always remain so.”
The escalation comes as the next edition of the world’s biggest football event faces an existential crisis as it will theoretically be played without teams the size of England, France and Spain if the boycott goes through.
For its part, FIFA insists that only the approval of a majority of its 211 federations is needed to accept the project, meaning it can be launched without European support. However, there was widespread criticism of the plan, most notably by British Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
“Football does not belong to the investors, it belongs to the fans. The World Cup is not a commodity. It’s the biggest rivalry in the world of sports, and it’s never been anyone’s business to sell it. Football belongs to the fans, always has been and always will be.”
