Uefa has reaffirmed its intention to boycott FIFA-run competitions, declaring that recent public support from FIFA for president Gianni Infantino does not resolve the ongoing governance crisis. The European football body stated that the announcement made on Wednesday night “changes nothing” and expressed continued skepticism that the organization could prevent a repeat of recent internal conflicts.
The threat follows an agreement among Uefa’s 55 member associations to boycott FIFA tournaments unless Infantino withdrew his privately funded Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) scheme. Although the FFE plan was formally scrapped last Friday, Uefa maintains that the necessary conditions to avert a boycott have not been satisfied. The organization emphasized that its members required the withdrawal of proposals to sell off major competitions and explicit assurances that such attempts to alter the game’s structure would not be repeated. Furthermore, Uefa reiterated that it has lost confidence in Infantino’s presidency, noting that the support he received from employees in Rabat does not address these underlying issues.
The dispute has created significant instability ahead of the Under-20 Women’s World Cup, scheduled to begin in Poland on 5 September. Should no agreement be reached, this tournament could become the first to face a Uefa-led boycott. Meanwhile, internal divisions within FIFA continue to surface. Arsène Wenger, FIFA’s chief of global development, reportedly declined an invitation to the recent summit in Morocco to distance himself from Infantino, having previously criticized the World Cup sell-off plans as unacceptable. Other high-ranking officials, including chief operating officer Kevin Lamour, chief football officer Jill Ellis, and chief women’s football officer Sarai Bareman, were either not present or not invited to the Rabat summit.
The players' union, Fifpro, also issued a harsh critique, labeling the FFE scheme a “profound abuse of presidential power.” While acknowledging the inevitability of the FFE's withdrawal, Fifpro demanded structural governance reforms and insisted that players be granted voting rights on the FIFA council. Conmebol, while expressing concern over unilateral actions taken without institutional dialogue, stated it would not support any procedure that departs from established mechanisms, noting that the timeline for the upcoming election is already fixed.
In other developments, Jordan Football Association president Prince Ali bin al-Hussein confirmed that while FIFA has finally paid overdue bonuses from last December’s Arab Cup, he remains opposed to Infantino. Prince Ali, who had previously accused the governing body of blackmailing his association for election support, maintained that his federation would not endorse the president. Conversely, the executive committee of the African confederation (Caf) has unanimously confirmed its support for Infantino, pledging to continue focusing on transparency and global best practices.
