Uefa’s 55 national associations are expected to convene an emergency meeting later this week to consider Fifa’s disputed plan to sell ownership shares in its leading tournaments.
The global governing body for football intends to establish a separate commercial company responsible for managing its flagship events, including the World Cup, with outside investors permitted to purchase stakes in the business.
The proposal has raised concerns that private investors could gain excessive control over those tournaments. Fifa, however, argues that the arrangement would generate additional funds for football associations worldwide.
European football’s governing organization took the unusual step of responding before the proposals were officially released on Tuesday. Reacting to early reports in the Financial Times and the Times, it strongly criticized the plans and said they had gone too far.
The meeting is due to take place online and will allow members to agree on how they should respond.
Considering the level of opposition, a potential boycott is likely to be discussed. The Football Association says it received no consultation before Fifa unveiled its proposals shortly after Uefa made its statement public.
Although Uefa represents only around one-quarter of Fifa’s 211 member nations, its membership includes many of international football’s strongest and most successful teams.
Six of the eight quarter-finalists at this summer’s World Cup were European, including champions Spain. European teams occupied five quarter-final places in 2022 and six in 2018.
Uefa is aware that any tournament organized by Fifa would lose considerable commercial value without the participation of its members.
Fifa maintains that it must explore ideas capable of expanding football internationally. Critics fear that its pursuit of higher revenue could result in more frequent editions of the men’s and women’s World Cups and their respective Club World Cups, potentially with a larger number of teams.
Such changes would place substantial pressure on an already crowded football schedule, which has also been affected by the enlargement of European club tournaments.
A senior figure in English football described Fifa’s proposal as one of the most serious challenges the sport has encountered, comparing it with the European Super League. That project caused widespread controversy in 2021 before collapsing within 48 hours.
However, Fifa appears unlikely to withdraw its proposal as quickly.
Fifa says the initiative is intended to increase worldwide development funding to $10bn (£7.5bn). It also plans to give each of its 211 member associations access to as much as $20m (£15m) in one-time capital funding.
The latest dispute adds further strain to relations between Fifa and Uefa. The European organization previously reacted with anger when former Arsenal manager and current global football development chief Arsene Wenger proposed holding the World Cup every two years in 2021.
Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin stayed away from this month’s World Cup final to demonstrate his opposition to several contentious decisions.
Among them was US President Donald Trump’s intervention in the case of USA forward Folarin Balogun, whose one-match suspension was changed to a suspended punishment, enabling him to appear in the last-16 match against Belgium.
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