The European Football Association launched a sharp attack on the proposals of the International Football Association regarding opening the door to private investments in its competitions, including the World Cup, considering that this step represents crossing red lines in the management of the game.
FIFA had announced its plan to increase funding for global football development to more than $10 billion, alongside inviting external investors to participate in a new project aimed at integrating and managing commercial operations and organizing the federation's tournaments.
According to an official FIFA statement, it will launch a new company that allows external parties to enter as investors with non-controlling minority stakes, while the International Football Association retains full control over the project, along with powers related to football management, tournaments, match schedules, and regulatory and sporting decisions.
UEFA expressed strong rejection of this step, noting that FIFA's proposals "cross a line that governing football institutions should not cross."
The European association said in an official statement: "UEFA takes this matter with the utmost seriousness, and national associations and all parties interested in the future of the game must do the same."
It added: "The spirit of football and its governance are not assets for sale, especially with the lack of transparency regarding the financial beneficiaries. None of us owns football, and it is not FIFA's right to sell it."
UEFA affirmed that it fears the step will lead to a greater expansion of FIFA tournaments in the future, both in terms of the number of tournaments and their frequency, in order to increase revenues, which could affect its major commercial competitions such as the UEFA Champions League.
The FIFA proposals file is expected to be discussed during the next FIFA Council meeting in the fall, as well as during the FIFA Club World Cup in December, which will see Paris Saint-Germain participate as the UEFA Champions League titleholder.
The project is expected to be put to a vote before the 211 member associations at the FIFA Congress scheduled to be held in Morocco next March.
It is noted that FIFA had clarified that if the required approvals are obtained, one of the American investment companies is expected to lead the proposed group of investors in that project.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino said the goal of the project is to ensure that all countries of the world benefit from the returns generated by football, adding: "Some aspects of the game have succeeded in turning its popularity into enormous commercial value, and we celebrate this success and want it to continue because it benefits football as a whole."
