30.7.2026
UEFA said Thursday that it will stay out of future men and women World Cups and other tournaments, if FIFA president Gianni Infantino goes ahead with his plan to sell off football stakes to private investors.
The European football governing body said in a statement after an emergency meeting with its 55 member associations, that UEFA “unanimously and unequivocally” rejected FIFA’s proposal to launch a new World Cup spin-off. The plan involves selling stakes of up to 20% to external investors, including Joshua Kushner, whose brother Jared is US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law.
The World Cup “cannot be treated as an investment product,” the statement reads.
“National associations around the world are now presented with an ultimatum: accept the irreversible capture of football’s greatest competitions or bear the consequences,” the statement said.
UEFA added that no national team from its member associations would take part in any FIFA competition “for so long as these proposals remain alive”, unless FIFA abandons the plan in its entirety and provides binding assurances that it will never again open its governance or competitions to private ownership.
UEFA believes that under Infantino’s proposal, commercial pressure from investors would spill over into sporting decisions, leading to an unprecedented change in the world of football.
“Football’s future cannot be dictated by the expectations of those whose first duty is to maximise financial return,” the statement reads.
UEFA is FIFA’s most influential confederation, both politically and financially, and its 55 member associations represent more than a quarter of FIFA’s 211 members.
European national teams are arguably the most valuable asset for FIFA, having won 13 of the 23 men’s World Cups and four of the nine women’s World Cups so far.
FIFA president Infantino and US President Donald Trump.