Fifa will be pushing ahead with a consultation process about whether to sell off stakes in the World Cup and its other tournaments to private investors, despite widespread criticism of the proposal.
The pushback since football's world governing body revealed its plan to sell a 20 per cent stake in a subsidiary company set up to run Fifa's competitions has been relentless.
On Thursday, those protests reached fever pitch when Uefa, European football's governing body, announced that they will boycott the World Cup – and all Fifa's competitions – if the plan of president Gianni Infantino was not scrapped.
“Some things are simply too important to sell,” Uefa said in a statement. The Fifa World Cup belongs to football. It always will. And so long as Europe has a voice, it will never be for sale.”
Uefa said there was no “meaningful consultation” before Fifa announced its plan. “It is both irresponsible and indefensible that a proposal of such significance for football was conceived in secret and brought to the brink of approval without any meaningful consultation with those entrusted with stewarding the game,” Uefa added.
“This is not merely a profound failure of leadership, but an abdication of Fifa's duty as the custodian of world football.”
Concacaf announced that its 41 members from North America, Central America and the Caribbean also are opposed to the plan while The Asian Football Confederation said it was “disappointed” that consultations were not made before the scheme became public.
The Confederation of African Football will be hosting meeting of its executive committee next week to “assess and evaluate” the proposals.
Despite all the anger, Fifa are digging their heels in, saying they will be continuing with an “open and democratic consultation” process with all its 211 Member Associations (MA).
“We have heard the feedback provided by the respective confederations in relation to the proposed establishment of Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) and would like to address the issues that have surfaced since the initial media reporting on Tuesday,” it said in statement released on Friday morning.
“We respect the feedback and concern aired in public and reaffirm our commitment to an open and democratic consultation.
“Our planned consultation process was disrupted by incorrect media reports. We will proceed with this consultation process to ensure that each MA has the ability to express its vote based on facts.”
The statement also goes on to say that: “Nobody is selling football. This is not something Fifa would ever entertain.
“Everyone has the right to express their opposition and to seek further clarification but no single entity can claim to represent all 211 MAs around the world. Each MA should be allowed to review the proposal and have a say in shaping their own future. These are the democratic principles of Fifa.”
Fifa also insist that each MA will receive $20 million of Fifa Forward Development funding over the next four years “irrespective of its individual support”.
“Without the support of the majority of MAs, Fifa's commercial activities would remain unchanged,” it added. “FFE would not be established.
“These components represent the starting point of the consultation process and are open for discussion as part of that process. This can include approval, rejection or amendment in their entirety or individually.”
On Wednesday, Infantino had described the plan to create a $20 billion subsidiary as a proposal but “not an obligation”.
“It’s part of a democratic process – a consultation process – and, above all, it is an opportunity but not an obligation, and, as I said, it kicks off the consultation process,” Infantino said in a video released by Fifa.
