If Gianni Infantino wants to move forward with his plan to sell a stake in FIFA’s commercial operations to private investors at a $20 billion valuation, he’ll have to do so without some of the most dominant and influential countries in the soccer world.
UEFA announced on Thursday that it plans to boycott all FIFA competitions in response to the proposal. The 55 member nations of European soccer’s governing body unanimously agreed to the move following an emergency meeting. Six of the 10 highest-ranked national teams on FIFA’s rankings on both the men’s and women’s side of the sport are in Europe.
This is not the first time a bold, money motivated attempt to reshape soccer has met fierce opposition from fans and stakeholders seeking to preserve at least some form of the sport’s humbler traditions. Five years ago, a Super League proposed by several of Europe’s biggest clubs fell apart in a matter of days after fan protests, political pressure and objections from others around the sport.
While the details of the two plans are quite different, FIFA’s investment plan seems like it could be heading to a similar fate. CONCACAF, which governs soccer in North America, Central America and the Caribbean, initially condemned the lack of transparency in the development of Infantino’s plan and later released a statement rejecting the proposal on behalf of its 41 member nations. A slew of other federations, leagues and even former FIFA president Sepp Blatter have chimed in publicly seeking answers and casting doubt on the motivations of the proposal.
On the other hand, Czech Football Association president David Trunda told Sky Sports before UEFA’s boycott that he “can see the pragmatic benefits for Czech football from working in close co-operation with Gianni Infantino and his team. Of course, we need more details, but my personal point of view is that I can see the positive impact of FIFA’s intentions.” Under the plan, each of FIFA’s 211 member nations would reportedly receive $80 million in payments by 2037.
It’s all reminiscent of April 2021, when Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester City and nine more of the biggest soccer clubs in Europe announced they were scorning UEFA’s Champions League to form a rival enterprise. The prospect of a closed competition without qualification and perceived corporate greed drew outrage from supporters, pushback from governments and threats of sporting and legal retribution from federations like UEFA and FIFA.
UEFA had a ton at stake financially since it was pulling in almost $4 billion annually in media rights fees across all its competitions at the time.
The breakaway Super League succumbed to the pressure and disintegrated quickly, with nine of its founding members withdrawing in a matter of days. Real Madrid, the last club standing in the effort, formally pulled out this past February. Although, the European Court of Justice did rule in 2023 that both UEFA’s and FIFA’s efforts to quell the upstart league violated the EU’s competition laws.
While the Super League failed, the saga proved to be a harbinger for the commercialization coming to other areas of the sport. The 2026 World Cup, for example, was largely held up as an opportunity for FIFA to reach new monetary heights by blending the most prominent property in global soccer with the biggest market in the world. And by all accounts, the tournament was a smashing success, drawing more fans than any of its predecessors, setting U.S. viewership records in multiple matches and generating an expected $15 billion in revenue, far beyond the projected $11 billion.
With his new plan, Infantino is trying to double-down on that success. The irony, amid all the blowback, is that it’s not much different from several other existing deals in sports. The New Zealand All Blacks rugby team formed a commercial entity to welcome investment from private equity firm Silver Lake, and Spain’s LaLiga did the same with institutional investor CVC. The University of Utah took money from alternative investor Otro Capital and major college sports conferences like the Big Ten have weighed comparable capital injections.
But even though American leagues and teams and other smaller pockets of the sports world seem to be willing passengers on a train toward further commercialization—the news of lucrative jersey patch deals at Ohio State University and the University of Notre Dame this week being prime examples—some factions in global soccer still remain steadfast in maintaining the status quo. At least for now.
FIFA won’t have to wait long to see if UEFA is prepared to stand by its bold response. The Women’s Under-20 World Cup is slated to be held in Poland this September, and the senior women’s World Cup looms next summer. Meanwhile, Infantino has set a Sept. 19 deadline for the 211 federations to accept his proposal, telling them a rejection would shrink a $10 billion funding package to $2.7 billion.
