RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 13 sourcesUefa will hold an emergency meeting on Thursday, where the prospect of boycotting the World Cup will be discussed as leverage against Gianni Infantino’s controversial plan to privatise the tournament .
Next steps with the European Union will also be raised, as the European Commission scrutinises whether Infantino’s project contravenes protections that are afforded as regards competition law.
Fifa’s plan has provoked fury in most of the European game, to the point that an alliance of all major stakeholders is gaining strength.
Bodies including the Football Association, European Leagues, European Football Clubs, the Union of European Clubs, the Football Supporters Association and Football Supporters Europe have already released strident statements, mostly condemning the lack of proper process, but with some going much further and demanding drastic change at the top of the game .
Figures within the national associations and Uefa’s structure are most infuriated by the unilateral nature in which Infantino has come up with the plan as well as the very prospect of privatisation, and how it has been presented to federations with a limited timeframe of 53 days before what amounts to a binary vote amid the “bribery” of those who agree being guaranteed higher returns.
Donald Trump, President of the United States, and Fifa President Gianni Infantino with the World Cup trophy (Bradley Collyer/PA)
A key question being asked is how any of this was decided without presentation to any other part of football governance, right up to how JP Morgan has already been decided upon as a likely partner.
The anger is such that national associations are prepared to discuss the threat of boycott, or at least to use the idea as leverage to kill Infantino’s plans.
While Fifa statute 14.1b obliges members to play in their competitions, association sources are pointing to how this tactic was used at the outbreak of the Ukraine war in 2022. Infantino’s leadership had initially wanted to get a Russian team into the World Cup in some form, only for European associations to insist they would boycott if that was the case.
The meeting is set to take place at 2pm UK time.
Uefa have also been in consultation with the European Commission to survey how Infantino’s plan can be challenged. European Commissioner for Sport Glenn Micallef has already intimated as much in a scathing statement, and it is understood the main avenue of potential resistance will be through the competition law protections that are granted to sports federations.
While bodies like Fifa and Uefa are usually given certain exemptions through the idea that sport fulfils a cultural good, a shift towards private interests would drastically change this.
Any removal of protections could significantly alter Fifa’s ability to operate in Europe, especially as regards its commercial activities.
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