RismadarVoice Reporters, August 1, 2026
UEFA has welcomed FIFA’s decision to withdraw a controversial proposal to sell a stake in its competitions, including the FIFA World Cup, to private investors, describing the move as a victory for football but warning that the issue of trust in FIFA’s leadership remains unresolved.
In a strongly worded statement, UEFA said the proposal had been unanimously rejected by its national associations and opposed by football federations and confederations around the world.
The European governing body thanked fans, leagues, clubs, players, associations and other stakeholders who resisted the plan, as well as political leaders who voiced concerns over the proposal.
UEFA criticised the process through which the scheme was developed, describing it as a secretive initiative allegedly pursued on a fast-track timetable.
“We cannot keep going on like this with secret schemes on fast-track timescales, cooked up by faceless individuals and of dubious benefit to the game,” UEFA said.
The organisation called for those responsible for developing the proposal to be identified and held accountable.
UEFA also announced plans to work with its national associations and other confederations to examine how the proposal emerged and develop safeguards to prevent a similar situation from occurring again.
The body said the review should be “thorough and fundamental”, adding that no option should be excluded.
UEFA took particular aim at FIFA President Gianni Infantino, arguing that his leadership had failed to maintain the transparency and accountability promised during his 2016 election campaign.
The European body cited Infantino’s previous commitment to transparency and his assertion that FIFA’s money belonged to its member associations and should be used for football development.
According to UEFA, those commitments have not been fulfilled.
It accused the FIFA leadership of pursuing an “opaque deal” that was inconsistent with the principles of transparency and accountability.
UEFA further pointed to FIFA’s financial reserves, which it said stood at more than $5 billion, arguing that the organisation should make greater use of its existing resources to support football development rather than seek to sell parts of the game to private interests.
UEFA said it would immediately begin working with partners and stakeholders across the global game to propose a new approach to distributing FIFA resources through the existing FIFA Forward programme.
The organisation argued that more of FIFA’s financial reserves should be directed towards grassroots football and development programmes across the 211 FIFA member associations.
“We don’t need to sell off the family silver to pay for it,” UEFA said.
UEFA described FIFA’s withdrawal of the proposal as a victory for the wider football community but stressed that the dispute should not end with the abandonment of the plan.
“The proposal has gone. The task of rebuilding trust in FIFA has only just begun,” the statement stated.
