Uefa to call off Fifa boycott and step up talks over Infantino at Champions League draw
Uefa will use a gathering of continental chiefs for tomorrow’s Champions League draw to call off its boycott of Fifa events and discuss next moves in its bid to oust Gianni Infantino.
Europe’s governing body will hold a meeting with its executive committee and heads of national FAs in Monaco ahead of the draw for the league phase of its top club competition.
The outcome is expected to be that Uefa drops its boycott of Fifa events after receiving the required assurances that the divisive plan to partly privatise the World Cup will not be revived.
The move would free England and other Uefa members to take part in the Women’s Under-20 World Cup, which is being staged by Fifa in Poland from next week.
But the high-powered summit is set to see the next round of discussions about how best to remove Fifa president Infantino, who has resisted calls to quit over the sell-off row.
Uefa has formed a formidable alliance with its counterparts the AFC and Concacaf, which represent Asia and Central and North American and the Caribbean respectively.
Between them they theoretically control a majority of Fifa’s 211 member associations, although some individual nations, such as Qatar and Mexico have broken ranks to back Infantino, who also retains staunch support from Africa and South America.
Infantino yet to face challenger for Fifa election
Infantino has indicated he intends to stand for re-election early next year and no rival candidate has yet come forward.
Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin this week ruled out running. Concacaf boss Victor Montagliani is currently thought to be among those most likely to oppose Infantino.
The proposal to sell off minority stakes in a new company that would control the commercial rights to the World Cup provoked a huge backlash across the game when they leaked earlier this month.
The investment, which would have raised $4.2bn, was set to be led by Joshua Kushner, a member of Infantino’s ally Donald Trump’s extended family who has since emerged as the surprise new co-owner of NBA franchise the LA Lakers.
This week former players have sought to influence the debate over Infantino, with a group led by Mikael Silvestre calling for him to go and others, mostly from Argentina and Brazil, backing the Swiss Fifa president.
The England squad for the Women’s Under-20 World Cup is due to travel to Poland on Monday and play their first game of the tournament against Canada in Bielsko-Biala on Saturday 5 September.
The draw for the Champions League will feature five English teams – Arsenal, Aston Villa, Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United – and take place at 5pm UK time.