UEFA Pledges Boycott Over World Cup Sell-Off Plans

European football’s governing body Uefa has agreed to boycott all Fifa competitions unless proposals backed by Fifa president Gianni Infantino to sell parts of the men’s World Cup to private investors are withdrawn.

At an emergency meeting on Thursday, all 55 Uefa member associations resolved not to take part in future Fifa World Cups or other Fifa-run events if the plan remains active. The decision was reached after discussions that lasted just under two hours, with Uefa describing the outcome as unanimous.

Threat Of Boycott To Be Formalised

Uefa said the stance will be communicated to Fifa this week through formal notification from its national associations. The message will set out that participation in future competitions will be blocked unless the World Cup sell-off is dropped entirely and Fifa provides binding guarantees that competitions and governance will not be opened to private ownership again.

Infantino’s scheme was initially due to be signed up to by 19 September. Uefa’s move raises the likelihood that Fifa will face pressure to either make major changes or reverse the plan altogether.

Uefa’s statement said no Uefa national teams would participate in any Fifa competition for as long as the proposals remained in play, unless the plan is abandoned and assurances are given that Fifa will never again allow private ownership of its competitions.

The meeting was introduced by Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin, with the executive committee and Uefa’s Fifa council representatives also speaking to delegates. Further remarks were then delivered by around 20 heads of member associations. One attendee described the atmosphere as one of unity, after earlier concerns that smaller countries might be persuaded by the financial incentives linked to Infantino’s proposal.

Which Tournaments Would Start The Boycott

Following the approach set out by Uefa, the boycott would begin with next year’s Women’s World Cup. The first age-group Fifa tournament expected to be affected is the Under-20 Women’s World Cup, scheduled in Poland from 5 September.

Uefa nations will be represented by six of the 24 competing teams, including England. The stance also creates a potential test for England later in the qualifying cycle, with the women’s national team scheduled to play a two-legged World Cup qualifying playoff against Greece in October.

Sources said Uefa also invited other confederations to follow its lead. The European body is understood to believe several Asian associations, in particular, could take a similar view. Fifa’s president has traditionally drawn the strongest support outside Europe, meaning a wider collapse in backing could further weaken his position.

Other Confederations React, Fifa Faces Election Pressure

Uefa said other associations worldwide were being presented with an ultimatum over whether to accept private involvement in football’s top competitions or face consequences. It added that the decision was not a “democratic decision” but governance by intimidation, describing the approach as coercion.

Concacaf, which oversees North and Central America and the Caribbean, also rejected Fifa’s proposal unanimously after an emergency meeting chaired by its president Victor Montagliani. Concacaf’s leadership, however, stopped short of announcing a boycott.

Even so, it is understood that most of Concacaf’s 41 members have lost confidence in Infantino’s leadership for the first time since he took office in 2016, raising the possibility that his position could now be genuinely at risk, after years in which he was expected to face little opposition.

In Europe, several national associations were also said to have held discussions with their respective governments, with many backing a boycott privately. In the UK, the prime minister Andy Burnham was the first politician to criticise Fifa’s plan on Tuesday, writing on X that the World Cup “was never anyone’s to sell”, and backing what he described as a principled decision to protect football from billionaire investors.

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31 July 2026