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Europe and North America unanimously came out against Gianni Infantino’s plan to commercialize FIFA on Thursday, taking away a major bloc of votes he would need to push forward the proposal.
All 55 Europe soccer federations said in a joint statement that they are ready to boycott World Cups if FIFA moves forward with its proposal for creating a commercial entity. The North American, Central American, and Caribbean federations did not say they would boycott, but they still “rejected” the proposal.
Infantino’s plan is now in serious trouble. He needs a simple majority of FIFA’s 211 national federations—106 votes—to pass the plan. UEFA and CONCACAF’s moves Thursday mean that at least 90 countries are against it. (Six of the 41 CONCACAF members are not FIFA members.)
“U.S. Soccer stands with Concacaf and its members,” the American federation said Thursday afternoon.
The European continental body voted unanimously at an emergency meeting Thursday to boycott all FIFA tournaments if the global governing body moves forward with its plan. The Women’s World Cup is next summer in Brazil, but FIFA also conducts other tournaments. Poland is hosting the U-20 Women’s World Cup in September.
“As a result of today’s 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,” the confederation said in a statement Thursday.
Later Thursday, CONCACAF, the confederation of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean, announced it had “rejected” the proposal.
“During the meeting, the membership expressed deep concerns about the lack of due process surrounding the proposal, the artificially short deadline imposed, and the absence of any review or approval by the relevant FIFA governance bodies,” CONCACAF said in a statement. “In addition, the need for private equity investment to fund new and existing FIFA Forward programs following the most profitable FIFA World Cup in history was questioned.”
On Tuesday, FIFA announced a plan to commercialize the World Cup and its other tournaments, consolidating several money-making parts of its business into an entity called FIFA Forward Enterprise, and selling off a roughly 20% stake of that company to outside investors. The prospective lead investor, Thrive Eternal, is run by Joshua Kushner, whose older brother, Jared, is U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and whose father, Charles, is Trump’s ambassador to France and Monaco.
UEFA had previously threatened a World Cup boycott in 2021 when FIFA proposed holding the tournament every two years.
“It is both irresponsible and indefensible that a proposal of such significance for football was conceived in secret and brought to the brink of approval without any meaningful consultation with those entrusted with stewarding the game,” UEFA said Thursday. “This is not merely a profound failure of leadership, but an abdication of FIFA’s duty as the custodian of world football.”
The European statement said that “our opposition goes far beyond process” and that “this model has no place” in global soccer.
“Commercial return becomes a permanent obligation. Investor expectations become a daily pressure,” UEFA said. “From that moment onwards, every decision on the international calendar, every decision on competition formats and every decision shaping the future of football is no longer driven by what best serves the game, but by what best serves shareholders.”
FIFA has maintained that investors would have a minority share in FFE and no operational control.
FIFA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Poland’s soccer federation did not immediately respond to questions about whether Thursday’s decision changes anything for the women’s U-20 tournament.
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