UEFA doubles down on World Cup boycott threat despite FIFA U-turn, Gianni Infantino apology

UEFA has doubled down on its threat of European member associations boycotting future men’s and women’s World Cups.

This comes after Gianni Infantino, the FIFA president, received “full support” from the senior leadership in attendance at a crisis meeting in Morocco on Wednesday.

UEFA’s initial threat to boycott future FIFA tournaments last week was in response to Infantino’s failed FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposal that would have seen FIFA make stakes in world soccer’s commercial and event operations, including the World Cups and Club World Cups, available for private investment.

European football’s governing body has made clear that the option remains on the table despite Infantino’s apology on Wednesday.

“UEFA’s associations were very clear about the conditions attached to the non participation in FIFA competitions,” a UEFA spokesperson told The Athletic on Thursday.

“First, the proposals to sell off the major competitions had to be withdrawn and secondly, assurances have to be made that such attempts to disfigure the game in this way will never be made again.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.

“Yesterday’s announcement that some people employed by the FIFA President (and whose careers depend on his favour) agree with him changes nothing.”

Infantino has maintained the support of FIFA’s leadership, despite the events of the last 10 days (Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)

Following Wednesday’s crunch meeting in Morocco, Infantino, via a statement, added that FIFA “will not tolerate any attacks on its integrity and will take all necessary measures to defend its reputation”.

Although UEFA has been the loudest voice in terms of responding to the scrapped FFE proposal by threatening a boycott, something other confederations are yet to do, they are not lone voices in their criticism.

Concacaf, the confederation of North, Central America and the Caribbean, have also expressed their anger towards Infantino, who is due to stand for re-election in March, which, if he is successful, would be his final term leading FIFA.

Infantino had previously said he has more than 200 letters of support from the 211 member associations, though that number has dwindled in recent days.

The English Football Association, Football Association of Wales and the Serbian Football Federation, three members of UEFA, have withdrawn their support, while others are yet to be so public.

FIFPro, the global players union, said on Thursday that the FFE proposal was “not merely a governance failure … It is a profound abuse of presidential power.”

“The withdrawal of FFE prevented an irreversible decision,” FIFPro added. “It did not restore the confidence that made such a proposal possible in the first place. That confidence has now been fundamentally broken. It cannot be rebuilt through carefully drafted statements, internal reviews or promises to improve processes. Nor can it be restored simply by announcing governance and structural reforms that should always have existed.”

Among FIFPro’s demands to FIFA are a legally binding engagement with professional football’s stakeholders on decisions of major consequence, such as changes to the international match calendar, and voting rights for professional football’s stakeholders on the FIFA Council.