Uefa blocks Fifa’s World Cup sell-off if it stands up to Infantino again
If Gianni Infantino’s plan to carve out the commercial rights to Fifa events including the World Cup is to be nipped in the bud, the rearguard action will – as it has in the recent past with similar power grabs – likely have to be led by Uefa. Here’s why.
Uefa has repeatedly shown itself to be the only football organisation with sufficient heft to check Infantino’s more radical schemes: from Fifa’s previous attempts to spin off commercial vehicles to biennial World Cups and, depending on who you believe, the European Super League.
In 2018, when Infantino attempted to push through plans to raise $25bn from investors including SoftBank in order to expand the Club World Cup and launch a Global Nations League, it was Uefa’s staunch resistance that ensured it never even made it to a vote.
Three years later, it was Uefa’s furious reaction to the launch of the European Super League – plus political pressure amid a fan backlash – that swiftly killed the project. Infantino has never admitted it but some believe he privately supported the breakaway.
And in 2022, when Infantino entertained the prospect of hosting World Cups every two years rather than four, it was Uefa’s unyielding opposition alongside its South American counterpart Conmebol that made the proposal a non-starter.
The trump card was the threat of a World Cup boycott from Uefa nations. “We can decide not to play in it,” Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin told The Times. “As far as I know the South Americans are on the same page, so good luck with a World Cup like that.”
Fifa needs Uefa more than it would like to admit
The truth is that Fifa needs Uefa more than it would like to admit. Europe provided three of the four semi-finalists at this summer’s World Cup and five of the last six winners of the tournament. Staging the event without England, France, Spain and Germany is unthinkable.
It is not just Europe’s status as the historic cradle of football; it is also its financial bedrock. Almost a third of Fifa’s media rights income flows from Europe, making it the biggest contributor to the quadrennial bonanza.
Indeed, Uefa actually generates more revenue than Fifa – around $20bn versus $15bn per four-year cycle – because it is home to the world’s biggest and most popular clubs, who play in its Champions League.
That fact has always been something that Infantino has tried to address since taking office a decade ago, following the fall of predecessor Sepp Blatter, and goes a long way to explaining his expansionist approach to Fifa tournaments.
His latest gambit can be viewed through that lens too, although it has also been accused of being a shameless power and cash grab to feather the nests of Infantino and his ally Donald Trump’s inner circle.
Uefa is far from perfect. It has faced its own questions about governance, its handling of financial regulation, and rampant commercialisation. It has expanded its Champions League and dabbled in musical performances at its final.
But in the apparent absence of any meaningful checks and balances at Fifa, it again falls to Uefa to act as football’s protector. Member nations due to meet today to discuss a possible boycott threat – the nuclear option that has proved decisive in the past.