UEFA boycott of FIFA could leave Club World Cup without Europeans | OneFootball

Flamengo seeks a spot in the 2026 Intercontinental and has already qualified for the 2029 Club World Cup

UEFA, which represents Europe’s football federations, announced this Thursday (30) a boycott against FIFA. The reason: the sport’s governing body announced it will create a company to manage competitions and sell stakes to private investors. Unhappy with the move, UEFA said it will not take part in intercontinental competitions while the proposal remains in place.

“No UEFA national team will take part in any FIFA competition while these proposals remain under consideration, unless the idea is completely abandoned and binding guarantees are provided,” UEFA said in a statement released this Thursday (30).

As for clubs, UEFA has not yet made any decision. However, the trend is for the confederation’s teams to also stay out of FIFA tournaments. That way, PSG (FRA), already qualified for the 2026 Intercontinental, would not play in the competition. Besides that, the 2029 Club World Cup, for which Mengão has already qualified, would be left without the richest clubs in the world.

WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF THIS DECISION?

The boycott would weaken, for example, the Women’s World Cup, which will take place next year in Brazil. If the problem persists for a long time, the 2030 Men’s World Cup would also be affected. In other words, if FIFA does not back down, the tournaments will lose strength.

WHAT DOES FIFA WANT TO DO?

FIFA, through president Gianni Infantino, wants to create Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE), a new subsidiary in which the entity would hold majority control. The possible new brand would be responsible for consolidating commercial operations and the main competitions.

Therefore, FIFA believes FFE would be worth 20 billion dollars (R$ 102.3 billion). So, the entity hopes to sell the equivalent of 4.2 billion dollars (R$ 21.5 billion) in shares to private investors, who would hold a minority stake in the new company.

WHAT IS THE AUTHOR’S OPINION?

— I believe FIFA will back down before the two national team World Cups take place. However, I am concerned about the Intercontinental in December. PSG has already secured its place. Without Paris, the future Copa Libertadores champion would go in as the clear favorite. I say that even if Mengo wins its fifth title. Winning the Club World Cup without a European opponent would not feel the same — opined journalist Pedro Paulo Catonho, from Coluna do Fla.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.