Post by Sports World (@sportsworld)
UEFA has called an emergency meeting of their 55 members for Thursday afternoon to discuss a coordinated response to Gianni Infantino’s plan to sell off stakes in the World Cup to private investors, with a European boycott of FIFA tournaments among the options under consideration.
British newspaper The Guardian has been told that, as the next major event in the Fifa calendar, a boycott of next year’s Women’s World Cup has been mentioned in preliminary discussions, although there would be a reluctance in some quarters to make the women’s game suffer as a result as consequence of a protest against Fifa proposals that primarily revolve around monetizing the men’s World Cup and and Club World Cup.
UEFA’s initial condemnation of FIFA’s plan to “sell the soul” of football has received strong backing from Concacaf – the North Central American and Caribbean confederation – and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and if their members follow their lead there should be sufficient votes to block the proposal.
Those three confederations alone comprise 143 of the 211 FIFA members, but unanimity is not guaranteed, as was made clear when Czechia became the first European association to back Infantino's plan.
Elite clubs also expressed their unhappiness, with the European Football Clubs organisation pointing out that Fifa had not consulted it despite the two bodies having signed a memorandum of understanding.
“As an institution that represents over 850 football clubs – whose member clubs, their players and communities are fundamental participants in football worldwide, not least in Fifa’s competitions including all the international club competitions – it would be wholly appropriate for EFC to be fully consulted on a proposal of such magnitude,” it said.
“EFC learned about this proposal in the same way as most global football stakeholders – without warning and through the media.”
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has not shared their position yet.
#Football #Sports #FIFA
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