Uefa delivered one of European football’s most seismic statements on Thursday afternoon, sending shockwaves through the global game with eleven unambiguous words.
“Uefa and its national associations will not participate in Fifa competitions,” the governing body declared, leaving no room for misinterpretation.
The statement came in direct response to Fifa president Gianni Infantino’s plan to sell a 20% stake in a subsidiary company set up to run the world governing body’s competitions, including the World Cup.
That company would be part-funded by private investors, among them Joshua Kushner, brother of US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law.
Concacaf, which governs football in North and Central America and hosted this year’s World Cup, also followed with a statement saying its 41 members rejected the proposals outright.
The boycott threat would be activated if Infantino’s funding deal is formally accepted, with 19 September set as the deadline for countries to agree and bank $20m by 1 January.
That timeline creates an alarming practical problem, with the U20 Women’s World Cup starting on 5 September in Poland and featuring numerous European nations.
“Not sure the detail was considered when deciding the overall policy,” admitted a senior European football source when asked what the decision means for that tournament.
Uefa vice-president and former Wales international Laura McAllister highlighted the very real consequences for competing nations, pointing to Wales’s involvement in the Women’s World Cup play-offs in the autumn.
“Wales is involved in the play-offs for the Women’s World Cup in the autumn, and it would be our first qualification for a World Cup,” McAllister told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“Nobody can even countenance the thought of not being involved in those,” she added, making clear the human cost of the dispute.
“But let’s be clear here. This is not a problem of Uefa’s making. It’s a problem that Fifa have created. Nobody wants the players to suffer, and nobody wants nations to suffer when it comes to the most prestigious competitions.”
“We’ve been pushed into this corner and that’s Fifa’s responsibility,” McAllister said, placing blame firmly at Infantino’s door.
Football Association chair Debbie Hewitt, who serves as a Fifa vice-president, spoke out against the plan at Uefa’s emergency meeting on Thursday, with the FA standing “shoulder to shoulder with our European colleagues.”
Scottish FA president Mike Mulraney, also chair of Fifa’s finance committee, said his organisation “agrees unequivocally” with Uefa’s stance, reflecting broad institutional opposition to the proposals.
Sources described the prevailing mood at the emergency meeting simply as “anger,” with fury directed at the lack of proper consultation from Infantino as much as at the proposals themselves.
Infantino, who became Fifa president in 2016 by beating Sheikh Salman al-Khalifa by 115 votes to 88, was previously expected to run unopposed for a fourth term in March, but that picture is now shifting.
Sources indicate the vast majority of Concacaf members have either lost faith in Infantino’s ability to govern the game or are rapidly losing it, with talk emerging of finding a candidate to stand against him.
The name of Nasser Al-Khelaifi, president of back-to-back Champions League winners Paris St-Germain, has been mentioned as a potential challenger, though sources say he has no interest in the role.
“He genuinely, genuinely, genuinely doesn’t want the job,” said a source close to the 52-year-old when asked about the possibility on Thursday.
Former FA chairman David Bernstein acknowledged Infantino’s position is precarious but noted that Fifa’s unique structure may yet protect him from being removed.
“In a normal organisation, if he has to back down due to something of this magnitude he’d probably be shown the door,” Bernstein said. “But Fifa is not a normal organisation. If he has the support of enough of the national associations, he will continue.”
Former Uefa chief executive Lars-Christer Olsson told the BBC that Infantino has overplayed his hand, suggesting that when asked if Infantino should be removed, “I think that should be a new start for football.”
Bernstein remains hopeful that a full schism can ultimately be avoided, insisting that Infantino must reverse course on a deal he described as unacceptable.
“On this occasion, Infantino’s got to back down. This deal is not acceptable. It’s a friends deal and it’s not right. If they want to raise capital, there’s other, better ways of doing it.”
