The long-simmering power struggle between global football’s two governing bodies escalated again on Thursday, as Europe’s UEFA confirmed it would not back down from its threat to boycott both men’s and women’s FIFA World Cup events — even after FIFA backed away from its controversial proposal to open top-tier competitions to private outside investment. The reversal of the private investment plan, which was first floated publicly just over a week ago, came directly after UEFA issued its initial boycott threat last Thursday, a move widely recognized as the driving force that forced FIFA to shelve the policy.
While the withdrawal of the investment proposal marked the first of two conditions UEFA laid out to drop its boycott threat, the European body confirmed Thursday that the second requirement has not been satisfied. In an official public statement, UEFA emphasized that its member associations set two non-negotiable terms to end their non-participation threat: first, the plans to sell partial stakes in major FIFA competitions had to be fully pulled, and second, FIFA had to provide formal guarantees that no similar attempts to alter the fundamental structure of the sport would be introduced again. “These conditions have not been met,” the statement read plainly.
Though UEFA acknowledged and welcomed FIFA’s withdrawal of the plan last Saturday, the organization has remained sharply critical of FIFA President Gianni Infantino, attacking the original proposal as a “shabby, backroom, opaque deal” — a tone that remained unchanged in Thursday’s update. The statement reaffirmed that UEFA has completely lost confidence in Infantino’s leadership, a position that remains firmly in place.
Infantino had earned a temporary show of internal support on Wednesday, when he convened an emergency meeting of senior FIFA directors in Marrakech, Morocco. The board issued a statement offering Infantino their “full confidence” while also issuing an apology for missteps that followed the leak of the investment proposal to media outlets. Even FIFA Secretary-General Mattias Grafstrom, who drew attention earlier this week when a leaked internal email showed he publicly criticized the plan, joined the show of backing for Infantino.
That show of internal support did nothing to change UEFA’s position, however. In a scathing rebuke, UEFA noted that the backing came from individuals employed directly under Infantino whose professional standing depends on his continued favor, adding that this display of loyalty changes nothing about the European body’s stance.
The original proposal, unveiled by FIFA on October 15, would have created a new commercial subsidiary named FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) to operate flagship events including the men’s World Cup and Club World Cup. FIFA pegged the total valuation of the new entity at $20 billion, and projected that selling private stakes would generate up to $4.2 billion in new revenue. The organization argued the plan would deliver major financial benefits to its 211 member associations: a one-time $20 million payout to every member by early 2027, and an increase in baseline funding for the 2027-2030 cycle from $8 million to $20 million per association.
Widespread backlash from football federations around the world, led by UEFA’s high-profile boycott threat, forced Infantino to back down from the plan just days later, in what has been widely described as a humiliating climbdown for the FIFA president.