Lisa Nandy: Women’s Football Shouldn’t Be Penalised By Uefa Boycott | OneFootball

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has warned that women’s footballers should not be “penalised” by a potential Uefa boycott of next month’s Under-20 Women’s World Cup, as hosts Poland say they have received no notice of any withdrawals. That matters because the threatened boycott, aimed squarely at Fifa president Gianni Infantino, risks derailing a tournament built around some of the game’s brightest young talent just weeks before it starts, and would be the first FIFA event staged since the standoff began.

Uefa’s 55 member associations have already voted to support a boycott of Fifa competitions over Infantino’s plan to sell off stakes in the World Cup, according to BBC Sport. The proposal at the centre of the dispute would have sold roughly 20% of the World Cup’s commercial rights to private investors to raise around $4.2 billion. Infantino has since proposed and then abandoned that specific plan, but Uefa is holding out for binding guarantees that Fifa will never again open its competitions or governance to private ownership. Poland are due to host the U20 tournament from 5-27 September, with England, Italy, Spain, Portugal and France among the European nations set to take part.

What has Poland said about withdrawals?

The Polish Football Association (PZPN) told BBC Sport it had “not received any information regarding the possible withdrawal of any participating team from the tournament,” adding that it believes “the current situation will be resolved swiftly.” The French Football Federation has already confirmed its intention to compete, while Portugal’s federation says its Under-20 side is “complying with the planned programme,” including a friendly against England this week.

England’s FA has not confirmed whether it will field a team, though Lydia Bedford’s Young Lionesses squad are, as things stand, continuing their preparations regardless. The dispute has also drawn a senior FIFA figure into open dissent, with adviser Carlos Cordeiro resigning in protest and calling the original sell-off plan “a bad deal for football.”

Nandy wants Infantino out, but not a boycott of this tournament

Nandy has previously called Uefa’s broader boycott stance “a principled decision that we strongly support,” saying football belongs to the fans, not billionaire investors, and that enough is enough. She told the BBC she wants Infantino to resign over the plan. “We support the FA in saying that football belongs to its fans, enough is enough, and it is time for a change at Fifa,” she said. “I think he should go, the time is up.”

Yet she stopped short of backing a boycott of the U20 tournament itself. “I am not generally in favour of sporting boycotts full stop, because I think they divide people from one another, I think they unfairly penalise athletes and competitors who are not responsible for the reason that these boycotts take place,” Nandy said. “What I would like to see actually is football coming together, resolving this, a change of leadership, a change of direction and a very clear message that football belongs to its fans and it will not have women and girls penalised when the women’s game is going from strength to strength. And our Lionesses are leading the world in that.”

Why this fight keeps landing on women’s football

This is not the first time governance rows in the men’s boardrooms have threatened to spill into the women’s game, as seen in She Kicks’ earlier coverage of the Champions League’s growing influence on club finances. A dispute over commercial control of the senior World Cup has, for now, put a youth tournament for teenage players at risk of collateral damage.

Nandy’s intervention lands the point clearly: her disagreement is with Fifa’s leadership and this specific proposal, not with the young players due to lace up in Poland.

What happens next

With no federation having formally withdrawn and the tournament still three weeks away, the situation remains fluid. Whether Uefa’s boycott stance translates into actual withdrawals from this tournament, or whether football finds the compromise Nandy is calling for, should become clear well before Poland’s opening whistle on 5 September.