UEFA is reportedly standing firm on its threat to boycott FIFA competitions, insisting that Gianni Infantino‘s apology “changes nothing” about its position. The stance comes just days after FIFA held a meeting in Rabat, Morocco, in an attempt to contain the fallout from Infantino’s failed plan to sell a stake in the World Cup.
At that Wednesday summit, Infantino formally withdrew the controversial FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal and received public backing from FIFA’s leadership, including secretary general Mattias Grafström and the organization’s management board.
FIFA subsequently issued a statement acknowledging that “mistakes” had been made and apologizing to its council and member associations, committing to ensure such errors do not happen again.
UEFA, however, was unmoved, according to Ben Jacobs of Talk Sport. The confederation laid out two conditions for lifting its boycott threat: that the proposal to sell off FIFA’s major competitions be fully withdrawn, and that guarantees be given that such attempts “to disfigure the game” will never be repeated.
“These conditions have not been met,” UEFA said, adding that internal backing for Infantino from FIFA staff “whose careers depend on his favour changes nothing.” The confederation reiterated that it has “lost confidence in Gianni Infantino’s presidency” and that the position remains unchanged.
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The pushback extends well beyond UEFA
Concacaf’s member federations have also voiced overwhelming loss of confidence in Infantino’s leadership, the English FA formally withdrew its support, and the Asian Football Confederation opposed the original proposal as well.
UEFA has gone as far as serving FIFA with a document preservation letter to safeguard potential evidence, and the first real test of its boycott threat looms on September 5, when the FIFA Women’s Under-20 World Cup kicks off in Poland.
Infantino’s current term as FIFA president runs until March 2027, but without UEFA’s cooperation, the organization risks losing access to most of the sport’s biggest footballing nations.
