Every country so far that is boycotting 2030 World Cup as FIFA pushes ahead with controversial plan
Gianni Infantino's plans to invite private investment into FIFA tournaments like the World Cup appears to have backfired horribly, as more and more countries say they want no part of it.
Infantino planned to sell a stake in the World Cup to private finance and raise billions of dollars, but the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) said FIFA 'crosses a line' with the proposals, which would need to be approved by enough of the 211 member nations.
UEFA then went one step further as its members held an emergency meeting where they agreed that if this went ahead then all 55 European footballing nations would be boycotting the World Cup.
The threat of a boycott dares FIFA to try putting on a World Cup without European countries competing and see how lucrative a product they really have to sell.
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For Infantino's plan to work he'd need to get it approved by FIFA's member nations, and given recent developments that doesn't look likely at all.
That's because the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) which includes the last World Cup's trio of hosts Mexico, Canada and the US have also said that on behalf of its 41 members (only 35 are in FIFA) they've jointly rejected Infantino's proposal.
The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has also since released a statement on behalf of their 47 members, 46 of which are in FIFA, saying they 'stand in solidarity' with UEFA and CONCACAF.
It looks like Infantino doesn't have the numbers for his plan, since he needs 106 out of the 211 FIFA members to vote for it and he's already got 136 countries all signed up to say no to this thing.
The AFC and CONCACAF haven't gone as far as joining UEFA in threatening a boycott but without any support from them Infantino's plan is doomed, and then attention might turn towards whether he should remain FIFA president if his vision for football is so different to everyone else's.
There's also been anger over Infantino putting these plans together without consultation, and the AFC said there were 'fundamental weaknesses in FIFA’s consultation and decision-making processes that must now be addressed'.
The announcement of these plans didn't come from Infantino but from The Times and the Financial Times, with their reporting surprising many footballing nations who hadn't been aware this was what was being cooked up.
Despite the mounting opposition to him, including the resignation of his senior adviser Carlos Cordeiro who called the plan a 'bad deal for football', Infantino has insisted he's not trying to sell out the beautiful game.
FIFA today released a statement saying: “We have heard the feedback provided by the respective confederations in relation to the proposed establishment of FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) and would like to address the issues that have surfaced since the initial media reporting on Tuesday.
“We respect the feedback and concern aired in public and reaffirm our commitment to an open and democratic consultation.
”Our planned consultation process was disrupted by incorrect media reports. We will proceed with this consultation process to ensure that each MA has the ability to express its vote based on facts.
"FFE has been proposed solely to ensure that all FIFA Member Associations (MAs) 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.
“Nobody is selling football. This is not something FIFA would ever entertain.”
Countries threatening to boycott the 2030 World Cup
The nations which are currently threatening to boycott the next World Cup are, conveniently, all 55 member nations of UEFA.
Considering the tournament is set to be jointly hosted by Portugal, Spain and Morocco, it would be quite difficult to see how the competition would go ahead in its current form when two of the host nations are at present threatening to boycott the tournament.
The countries are:
- Albania
- Andorra
- Armenia
- Austria
- Azerbaijan
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- England
- Estonia
- Faroe Islands
- Finland
- France
- Georgia
- Germany
- Gibraltar
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italy
- Kazakhstan
- Kosovo
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Moldova
- Montenegro
- Netherlands
- North Macedonia
- Northern Ireland
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Russia
- San Marino
- Scotland
- Serbia
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Turkey
- Ukraine
- Wales
Joe Harker