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Fifa has responded to the threat of a boycott from European nations with a statement saying that “nobody is selling football”, while blaming the media for disrupting its consultation process over controversial plans to sell chunks of the World Cup to US-based private investment.
After an emergency meeting on Thursday, Uefa member associations agreed to boycott all Fifa tournaments, including World Cups, unless the proposal was abandoned entirely.
Faced with an unprecedented mutiny, eclipsing the existential threat to the 1966 World Cup when African nations withdrew, Fifa issued a statement on Friday to acknowledge the fierce backlash. But it stopped short of withdrawing the plans, instead reaffirming its commitment to push ahead with the consultation process.
“We respect the feedback and concern aired in public and reaffirm our commitment to an open and democratic consultation,” the statement read. “Our planned consultation process was disrupted by incorrect media reports.
“We will proceed with this consultation process to ensure that each MA [member association] has the ability to express its vote based on facts.”
Uefa accused Fifa of putting the sport’s “soul” up for sale, while Concacaf, the confederation responsible for North and Central America and the Caribbean, said it opposed the plan and “rejected the proposal”.
The AFC, Asia’s governing body, said it harboured “great concern and disappointment” that it was not consulted by Fifa prior to the public announcement of the plans, and the lack of details it had received was “totally unacceptable”.
The European bloc’s hardline stance came as a blow to Fifa president Gianni Infantino, who has publicly backed the proposal, under which a new commercial entity, Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE), would be established to oversee commercial and event operations.
As part of the plan, external investors would be offered stakes of up to 20%, with the promised external investment delivering millions of dollars in extra funding to each national federation.
“FFE has been proposed solely to ensure that all Fifa member associations have the opportunity to take meaningful ownership of the commercial opportunity of football in their respective countries, and that this does not come at the cost of either the spirit or the governance of Fifa or football itself,” Fifa’s statement continued.
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“Nobody is selling football. This is not something Fifa would ever entertain.
“Everyone has the right to express their opposition and to seek further clarification but no single entity can claim to represent all 211 MAs around the world. Each MA should be allowed to review the proposal and have a say in shaping their own future. These are the democratic principles of Fifa.”
The statement added that Fifa was open to discussion as part of the consultation process and that “this can include approval, rejection or amendment in their entirety or individually”.
