Government ministers back Uefa’s ‘principled decision’ over Fifa World Cup boycott | OneFootball

Ministers have publicly backed Uefa’s decision to boycott Fifa competitions until the global football body’s controversial plans to involve private investors in major tournaments are shelved.

The European football governing body announced its stance after a crisis meeting on Thursday afternoon, reacting to Fifa's proposals to establish a company with private investors to manage events like the World Cup.

UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy praised Uefa’s stance, describing it as a "principled decision that we strongly support".

She added: “Football belongs to the fans, not billionaire investors. Enough is enough. It’s time to take a stand to protect our game.”

Fifa’s plans would see the body create a new company – Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) – to manage its competitions, including the men’s and women’s world cups.

Minority stakes in FFE would then be sold off to private investors, with the lead investor expected to be Thrive Eternal – a company founded by Joshua Kushner, the brother of US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Fifa’s plans would see the body create a new company to manage its competitions, including the men’s and women’s world cups (Reuters)

The move has been strongly criticised by figures from both football and politics.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has spoken out against the plans, saying football “does not belong to investors” and the World Cup was “never anyone’s to sell”.

Liberal Democrat sport spokeswoman Anna Sabine also backed the boycott and called for Uefa to go further and create “a new global footballing body built on accountability and transparency that puts fans first”.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said Uefa had been “right to take a stand” and called for Fifa boss Gianni Infantino to resign.

In a statement on Thursday, the European governing body said no Uefa national teams would take part in Fifa competitions “for so long as these proposals remain alive”.

Uefa said teams would only return to Fifa competitions if the proposal was “abandoned in its entirety” and the global body gave “binding assurances” it would “never again open its governance or competitions to private ownership”.

Fifa said the plans would enable it to make significant increases to the development funding available to national associations around the world – up to 10 billion US dollars (£7.5 billion) – in the three-year cycle between 2027 and 2030.

Associations were asked to make a decision by September 19 on whether they supported the idea of private investment, with documents seen by the Press Association on Thursday morning indicating Fifa was expecting all investment monies to have been transferred to it by the end of October.

A Football Association spokesperson said the English governing body stood “shoulder to shoulder” with its European colleagues and added: “We oppose Fifa’s plans – the Fifa World Cup belongs to football and always will.”

The Football Association of Wales and the Scottish FA also emphasised their unity with their fellow national associations and gave their backing to Uefa’s statement.