UEFA to boycott WC; Concacaf rejects FIFA plan
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- UEFA agreed at an emergency meeting of its 55 members to boycott all FIFA competitions, including men's and women's World Cups, until Infantino's proposed stake sale is abandoned; over 50 associations took the floor to voice unanimous anger.
- Concacaf, whose 41 members include 2026 World Cup hosts the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, rejected the proposal later the same day, citing "lack of due process," an "artificially short deadline," and the absence of FIFA governance review.
- The plan would sell a stake in FIFA Forward Enterprises (FFE) to raise $20 billion in exchange for influence over broadcasting and commercial deals, structured as a 12-year ownership deal bankrolled by Joshua Kushner.
- The deal would trigger over $80 million in payouts to each of FIFA's 211 member associations between now and 2037, with Infantino having set a Sept. 19 deadline for member associations to accept.
- Asian Football Confederation president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa — a longtime Infantino ally since the 2016 FIFA presidential election — warned that "FIFA's unilateral actions appear to undermine the very foundations of continental football."
- The first test of UEFA's stance comes in September when Poland hosts the Women's U20 World Cup; a FIFA presidential vote is scheduled for March 2026 in Rabat, Morocco, with a Nov. 18 deadline for candidate declarations.
Why it matters: Three of FIFA's six continental federations now publicly oppose Infantino's $20 billion stake sale, with UEFA threatening a full competition boycott — a fracture that could destabilize his 11-year presidency before the March 2026 vote in Rabat. Women's soccer is the immediate pressure point: UEFA's stance gets tested in September at Poland's U20 Women's World Cup, and the next senior World Cup on the calendar is the 2027 Women's World Cup in Brazil.
