UEFA welcomes FIFA's withdrawal of plans to sell stake in World Cup
New Delhi, August 1
UEFA has welcomed FIFA's decision to withdraw its proposal to sell stakes in its competitions, including the World Cup, to private investors, while sharply criticising FIFA President Gianni Infantino and calling for greater transparency and accountability within world football's governing body.
The proposal was unanimously rejected by UEFA's national associations and by many other federations and confederations of all sizes around the world, whose job it is to protect football, according to a media release.
UEFA also thanked all the fans, leagues, clubs, players, individuals, associations and confederations that opposed the scheme, alongside the many Prime Ministers, Heads of State and commentators who have demonstrated to the FIFA President that football is not for sale.
"We cannot keep going on like this with secret schemes on fast-track timescales, cooked up by faceless individuals and of dubious benefit to the game. We must identify those responsible and hold them to account," the release said.
"It is right that, in the coming days and weeks, UEFA will work with its associations and in close cooperation with other confederations to reflect on how this happened and devise a plan to make sure that it cannot occur again. That review should be thorough and fundamental. No option should be off the table. The current FIFA leadership has not only lost UEFA's confidence but also that of many other members of the football family," the release said.
When Gianni Infantino asked for the trust and the votes of FIFA's Member Associations to elect him as their President in 2016, he said, "Of course we have to be transparent. I have been this in the last 15 years of my life in UEFA. You will have to play a part every day in the life of FIFA," before telling the assembled stakeholders, "The money of FIFA is your money. It's not the money of the FIFA President. It's your money. You are the national associations and the money of FIFA has to serve for the development of football and not for anything else."
"On both these promises, he has failed to deliver. The shabby, back room, opaque deal he hatched and tried to force through was anything but transparent. And with reserves standing at over $5bn, he has also failed to use associations' money for the benefit of the game," the release said.
UEFA will begin work immediately with partners and stakeholders all over the world and right across the game to propose a new way of distributing resources through the existing FIFA Forward programme.
"We must start to use some of that money that is sat idle in FIFA's bank account to deliver the kick start that the grassroots and the wider game need in each of the 211 countries of FIFA. But we don't need to sell off the family silver to pay for it. This is a victory for the whole game. But it must not be the end of the story. The proposal has gone. The task of rebuilding trust in FIFA has only just begun," it added.
— ANI
Reader Comments
UEFA's transparency demands are spot on. The way FIFA operates sometimes feels like a secret society. If they want to grow the game globally, especially in emerging markets like India and China, they need to show where the money goes and how it benefits grassroots development.
Infantino promised transparency in 2016 and look what happened. It's always the same story - big promises, no follow-through. Indian football fans are used to corruption in our own sports bodies, but that doesn't mean we should accept it globally. Good on UEFA for calling this out! 👏
With $5 billion in reserves, FIFA has more than enough to fund development programs. Selling the World Cup stake would've been a disaster for smaller nations like ours. The game's soul matters more than commercial profit. This victory shows what collective pressure can achieve!
UEFA's criticism seems a bit rich coming from them - they're not exactly saints themselves when it comes to behind-the-scenes deals. But on this particular issue, they're right. The World Cup belongs to everyone who loves football, and putting it up for sale to private entities would've been a massive mistake.
The fact that football is not for sale is a powerful message. But let's not forget that the real work begins now - rebuilding trust, ensuring transparency, and actually using that money for grassroots development. We need accountability at every level, not just in FIFA but in all sports bodies worldwide. The future of Indian football depends on this too! 🌏⚽
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