In a decisive move that threatens to plunge world football into one of its gravest crises in decades, UEFA’s 55 member associations on Thursday unanimously voted to boycott the FIFA World Cup and all other competitions organised by the global body governing football. The decision, taken during an emergency virtual meeting, comes as a direct protest against FIFA’s controversial plans to sell minority stakes in a newly proposed subsidiary that would oversee the commercial and operational aspects of its major tournaments, including the World Cup.
The core of the dispute lies in FIFA’s announcement earlier this week that it intends to create FIFA Forward Enterprise, a subsidiary valued at around 20 billion dollars. FIFA plans to bundle all its money-making activities, including broadcast rights, sponsorship, ticketing, licensing, and event delivery, into the commercially focused subsidiary. FIFA has valued the new commercial venture at around $20 billion based on JPMorgan’s estimate.
Under the proposal, FIFA would retain majority control while offering up to 20 per cent of FIFA Forward Enterprise to external private investors. This is expected to raise approximately 4.2 billion US dollars based on the valuation, which FIFA maintains would be channelled into expanded development funding for its 211 member associations worldwide.
A vehicle associated with American investor Joshua Kushner, brother of Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, is tipped to lead the investor group. FIFA has claimed that the scheme is a means of democratising the game and delivering greater financial support to national federations. Member associations have been given until 19 September to approve it or risk losing a substantial one-off payout.
Bloomberg reported that the idea for FFE first arose last year during private discussions between FIFA president Gianni Infantino and Joshua Kushner, the brother of Ivanka Trump’s husband Jared Kushner. J.P. Morgan was brought in to develop a way for FIFA to monetise its media rights and pitch it to potential investors. Kushner has invested indirectly in the sports industry in the past and was looking for new opportunities for his firm, known as Thrive. However, he is not involved in the Trump administration.
However, European football’s governing body and its national associations have rejected the plan outright. In a strongly worded statement following the vote, UEFA declared that its members stand united in unequivocally rejecting any transfer of ownership interests in the World Cup and other FIFA competitions to private investors. They argue that the World Cup is not an investment product to be traded but one of football’s greatest sporting legacies, built over generations by players, national teams and supporters across every continent.
UEFA said, “As a result of today’s discussion, no UEFA national teams will participate in any FIFA competition for so long as these proposals remain alive, unless this proposal has been abandoned in its entirety and binding assurances have been given that FIFA will never again open its governance or competitions to private ownership.”
UEFA statement on The Times article: ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/ye1tjfWRCb
— UEFA (@UEFA) July 28, 2026
“The soul and governance of football are not assets to trade – especially with zero transparency as to who gains financially. None of us are the owners of football. It is not FIFA’s to sell,” UEFA stated in a short statement issued on social media, emphasising that no one holds the moral authority to sell what is merely held in trust for future generations.
“No UEFA national teams will participate in any FIFA competition for so long as these proposals remain alive, unless this proposal has been abandoned in its entirety and binding assurances have been given that FIFA will never again open its governance or competitions to private ownership,” UEFA said in a statement.
UEFA further said that “a proposal of such significance for football was conceived in secret and brought to the brink of approval without any meaningful consultation with those entrusted with stewarding the game.”
The objections centre on both principle and process. UEFA and its members contend that the soul and governance of football cannot be treated as commercial assets, particularly when there has been zero transparency regarding who stands to gain financially. They have accused FIFA of conceiving the proposal in secret and advancing it towards approval without any meaningful consultation with those responsible for stewarding the game. This, they say, represents not merely a failure of leadership but an abdication of FIFA’s duty as the custodian of world football. Concerns have also been raised about the coercive nature of the September deadline, under which associations that fail to support the plan risk having a significant one-off funding offer withdrawn.
As a result of Thursday’s unanimous decision, no UEFA national teams will participate in any FIFA competition for as long as these proposals remain active, unless the entire plan is abandoned and binding assurances are provided that FIFA will never again open its governance or competitions to private ownership. The next men’s World Cup is scheduled for 2030 in Spain, Portugal and Morocco, while the women’s tournament is due in Brazil next year, making the threat particularly potent given Europe’s dominant position in the sport.
The standoff deepens long-standing tensions between FIFA President Gianni Infantino and UEFA leadership, with the latter positioning itself as the protector of the game’s integrity against what it views as excessive commercialisation. Other confederations have also voiced reservations about transparency and the limited opportunity for proper scrutiny. Whether the boycott threat forces FIFA to retreat or escalates into a wider rupture in the global game remains to be seen, but European football has made its position crystal clear: the World Cup belongs to the people who play and support it, not to private investors.
