The Union of European Football Associations has announced a loss of confidence in the leadership of the International Federation of Football Associations due to plans to transfer a share of the rights to the World Cup to private investors.
Earlier this week, FIFA confirmed in its official resource the intention to create FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), which would combine the organization's commercial and tournament activities, and offered private investors to acquire its shares. UEFA reacted negatively to this proposal, threatening to boycott the World Championship. On Saturday evening, Moscow time, the press service of FIFA published the statement of the president of the organization, Gianni Infantino, in which he accepted the controversial situation surrounding the project and informed that the proposal will not be implemented.
UEFA welcomes FIFA's decision to abandon its intention to sell shares of its own tournaments, including the World Cup, to private investors. This proposal was unanimously rejected by the UEFA member associations, as well as by many other federations and confederations of the world involved in the protection of football.
UEFA would like to thank all the fans, leagues, clubs, players, individuals, associations and confederations who spoke out against the plan, as well as the many prime ministers, heads of state and commentators who showed the FIFA president that football is not for sale.
"We cannot continue like this, with secret programs that are being developed at a rapid pace, are being developed by faceless individuals and are of questionable benefit to the game. We must identify those responsible and bring them to justice.
It is true that UEFA will work with its associations and other confederations in the coming days and weeks to analyze what happened and develop a plan to ensure that something like this does not happen again. This analysis must be thorough and fundamental. No option should be ruled out. The current FIFA leadership has lost the confidence not only of UEFA but also of many other members of the football family," said a statement posted on the UEFA website.
