On Thursday, July 30th, 2026, UEFA member federations agreed to boycott all FIFA competitions in protest against FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s plan to sell stakes in the World Cup to private equity investors. Following an urgent online meeting of its 55 members, UEFA declared, “UEFA and its national associations will not participate in FIFA competitions.”

In a statement, UEFA emphasized the importance of the World Cup to football, saying, “Some things are simply too important to sell. The FIFA World Cup belongs to football. And so long as Europe has a voice, it will never be for sale.”

The boycott decision was made to counter Infantino’s controversial offer of US$20 million to each of FIFA’s 211 global members, which must be accepted by mid-September. Infantino’s secret proposal, revealed earlier that week, involves spinning off FIFA’s commercial operations into a new US$20 billion subsidiary, with 20 percent ownership allocated to private investors. The core investor would be a New York investment firm founded by Joshua Kushner, brother of Jared Kushner, son-in-law of former US President Donald Trump.

UEFA criticized the plan as “not merely a profound failure of leadership, but an abdication of FIFA’s duty as the custodian of world football.” Notably, Infantino was a long-time UEFA staffer and served as its CEO-like general secretary before being elected FIFA president in 2016.

Sources