No England. No France. No Germany. No Spain. According to The Times' Martyn Ziegler, all 55 UEFA member associations have voted unanimously to boycott the FIFA World Cup — a direct response to FIFA president Gianni Infantino's plans to sell shares in the tournament to private investors. If this holds, it is the most consequential rupture in world football governance in living memory.
The Times' Martyn Ziegler — one of the most reliable sources in football governance journalism — reported that every single one of UEFA's 55 member associations has backed a boycott of the World Cup. The trigger: Infantino's push to bring private investment into the tournament itself, effectively selling a stake in football's crown jewel to outside shareholders.
FootballJOE picked up the story in two separate reports. The precise mechanism — whether this is a formally binding resolution or a declaration of intent — has not been fully detailed in the available excerpts.
Strip Europe out of the World Cup and you lose the reigning world champions, the last four European Championship winners, and the majority of the tournament's most commercially valuable broadcast markets. You lose England, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium — the names that sell the thing globally. FIFA's expanded 48-team format was built partly on European participation filling out the bracket and the TV deals. Without UEFA's 55 nations, the commercial case for the tournament collapses alongside the sporting one.
Infantino has spent years centralising power within FIFA, pushing through the expanded Club World Cup and floating structural changes that have repeatedly put him on a collision course with European football's leadership. Selling equity in the World Cup to private investors would be the furthest any FIFA president has gone — and UEFA, apparently, has decided that's the line.
The relationship between UEFA and Infantino has been deteriorating for years, playing out in boardrooms, legal letters, and the occasional pointed press conference. A unanimous vote across all 55 associations — from Germany and Spain to Andorra and San Marino — is a different order of magnitude entirely. Getting 55 football federations to agree unanimously on anything is almost impossible. Apparently they managed it.
Whether FIFA blinks, whether legal challenges follow, and whether any UEFA nation breaks ranks under pressure — those are the questions now. For now, the position is clear: and Gianni Infantino does not appear to be the one holding all the cards.
No England. No France. No Germany. No Spain. According to The Times' Martyn Ziegler, all 55 UEFA member associations have voted unanimously to boycott the FIFA World Cup
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“Stays on UEFA — different angle, same beat.”
Fifty-five associations. Fifty-five votes. Zero dissent. At an emergency UEFA meeting on 30 July, every single European football federation backed a boycott of FIFA competitions — beginning with next
“Stays on UEFA — different angle, same beat.”
Fifty-five associations. Fifty-five votes. Zero dissent. At an emergency UEFA meeting on 30 July, every single European football federation backed a boycott of FIFA competitions — beginning with next
