UEFA Votes to Boycott Future World Cups Over FIFA's Investment Plan
UEFA has voted to boycott upcoming men's and women's World Cups in response to FIFA's plan to sell stakes in the tournaments to private investors.
In a statement released after an emergency meeting of its 55 member associations, UEFA stated that the World Cup should not be viewed as an investment product.
National federations worldwide now face an ultimatum: accept an irreversible takeover of the largest football tournaments or face consequences.
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UEFA added that no national team from its member associations will participate in any FIFA tournament until these proposals are withdrawn, unless FIFA completely abandons the investment plan and provides legally binding guarantees that it will never hand over control of the tournaments to private entities.
Boycotts are not new in World Cup history.
For instance, England ignored the first three tournaments in 1930, 1934, and 1938, believing their team was superior to the rest of the football world. African nations boycotted the 1966 World Cup, withdrawing from the qualifying tournament in protest against FIFA's quota distribution. The USSR refused to play a qualifying match against Chile after the military coup led by Augusto Pinochet, thus missing the chance to qualify for the 1974 World Cup.
