UEFA’s 55 member federations voted unanimously on Thursday to boycott all FIFA competitions, including the World Cup, unless FIFA abandons a plan to sell minority stakes in a new $20 billion subsidiary to private investors.
FIFA announced the proposal on Tuesday, less than two weeks after the 2026 World Cup concluded in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The plan would create a commercial entity, FIFA Forward Enterprise, to run the World Cup and other events, with up to 20% offered to outside investors.
UEFA called the plan an abdication of FIFA’s responsibilities as the sport’s custodian, and said in a statement that no European national teams would compete in FIFA events while the proposal remains active. FIFA President Gianni Infantino defended the plan as optional for member associations rather than obligatory, saying it was designed to ensure the game’s commercial value reaches federations and communities worldwide.
FIFA has offered its 211 member associations $40 million each if they back the plan by September 19, part of a $10 billion package available from January 2027. Associations that reject it would instead receive a previously offered $2.7 billion package, roughly $10 million per federation.
CONCERNS SPREAD
Concacaf, the governing body for North and Central America and the Caribbean, said its members raised concerns over the plan’s compressed timeline and the absence of formal review by FIFA’s own governance structures. The Asian Football Confederation also came out against the proposal on Thursday, joining UEFA and Concacaf in rejecting it, leaving three of FIFA’s six continental confederations opposed.
The dispute has emerged as Europe’s strongest challenge yet to Infantino’s leadership. UEFA members made up six of the eight quarterfinalists and three of four semifinalists at the 2026 World Cup, with Spain going on to win the tournament, underscoring the continent’s competitive and commercial weight within the sport.
Reports have also linked prospective investors to Thrive Eternal, a firm founded by Joshua Kushner, whose brother Jared Kushner is a son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump, adding a political dimension to the commercial dispute.
TITLE FIGHT LOOMS
The standoff comes as FIFA prepares for a presidential election in March in Rabat, Morocco. FIFA has set a Nov. 18 deadline for candidates to declare, and the boycott threat has raised questions over whether Infantino, in office since 2016, could face a serious challenge for the first time in years.
FIFA’s structure gives all 211 member associations an equal vote regardless of footballing or commercial weight, meaning coalition-building across Africa, Asia, the Americas and Oceania remains central to any leadership contest. UEFA’s 55 votes represent just over a quarter of FIFA’s membership, but the confederation organizes the Champions League and other competitions that generate a disproportionate share of the sport’s revenue, giving it outsized leverage in disputes over governance and money.
Under FIFA statutes, the six confederations operate as independent bodies with their own congresses and commercial programs rather than as regional offices of FIFA, a structure that has repeatedly put Zurich and Nyon, UEFA’s headquarters, at odds over the direction of the global game.
The immediate practical stakes are significant. A boycott would extend to the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil, due to begin June 24, as well as youth tournaments scheduled sooner, including the Under-20 Women’s World Cup and the Under-17 World Cups.
FIFA has not said whether it will alter or withdraw the proposal in response to Thursday’s vote. UEFA said the boycott would remain in place unless the plan is dropped entirely and FIFA gives binding guarantees against future private ownership of its competitions or governance.
No date has been set for further talks between FIFA and the confederations opposed to the plan.
