UEFA boycotts World Cup over FIFA plan to sell tournament stakes to investors

UEFA's member associations unanimously voted to boycott the World Cup and other FIFA competitions in protest at FIFA's plan to sell stakes to external investors in a $20 billion tournament subsidiary. UEFA stated no national teams will participate unless the proposal is abandoned entirely.

UEFA's member associations have unanimously voted to boycott the World Cup and other FIFA competitions in protest at FIFA's plan to sell stakes to external investors in a subsidiary that will run the global governing body's tournaments. European soccer's governing body announced the decision following a virtual meeting on Thursday. World soccer's ruling body said on Tuesday it plans to create a $20 billion subsidiary to run the World Cup and its other events and will offer stakes of up to 20% in it to external investors. UEFA stated: "No UEFA national teams will participate in any FIFA competition for so long as these proposals remain alive, unless this proposal has been abandoned in its entirety and binding assurances have been given that FIFA will never again open its governance or competitions to private ownership." UEFA added that the World Cup cannot be treated as an investment product and is not for sale. The English FA backed the decision, saying it stands with European colleagues. The Asian Football Confederation and CONCACAF also strongly criticized FIFA earlier, saying they were not consulted.