European soccer confederation UEFA still plans to boycott all FIFA-related events despite FIFA president Gianni Infantino issuing an apology and retracting the plans for selling ownership shares in the World Cup.
UEFA’s 55 member federations unanimously approved the FIFA boycott at an emergency meeting on July 30 after Infantino announced a plan to raise billions in private equity under a new entity called the FIFA Forward Enterprise.
UEFA’s response reportedly played a large role in this plan being shelved. However, the reversal hasn’t immediately convinced UEFA to buy back into FIFA under Infantino.
“UEFA’s associations were very clear about the conditions attached to the non participation in FIFA competitions,” UEFA said in a statement. “First, the proposals to sell off the major competitions had to be withdrawn and secondly, assurances have to be made that such attempts to disfigure the game in this way will never be made again.
“These 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’s presidency. That position holds.”
FIFA’s top officials joined Infantino on Wednesday in Morocco for an emergency meeting. A FIFA statement after the meeting acknowledged “errors” in how news of the FFE plan was released and apologized to all 211 members for not being included in the “process.”
However, FIFA also expressed full confidence in Infantino in its statement, making it clear that this summer’s World Cup would have not been successful were it not for the association’s president.
“FIFA’s top management is fully confident that the outcomes of today’s meeting will strengthen FIFA’s governance, help restore confidence in the organisation and enable us to prepare for the major events and challenges ahead,” the FIFA statement said.
As far as UEFA is concerned, this meeting and statement change nothing about its stance.
“Yesterday’s announcement that some people employed by the FIFA president (and whose careers depend on his favor) agree with him changes nothing,” UEFA said.
Infantino still has support from some parts of the soccer world, though.
The Confederation of African Football’s executive committee said Thursday that its 54 member nations continue to back the FIFA boss. Morocco is set to co-host the 2030 World Cup with Spain and Portugal, joining South Africa (2010) as the only African locales for the sport’s flagship event.
CAF wrote in a statement, “The CAF EXCO unanimously reconfirmed its support for FIFA President Gianni Infantino and thanked him for his support for African football over the years.”
The Mexican Football Federation (FMF), representing one of the three 2026 World Cup co-hosts, also issued a statement on Thursday that read in part, “The FMF supports President Infantino’s leadership in continuing to drive the development of football through institutional strengthening.”
–Field Level Media
