World football\u2019s governing body vows to press ahead with \u201copen and democratic\u201d consultation on proposed plan
\nwashington
\nThe Asian Football Confederation (AFC) joined Uefa and CONCACAF in condemning world football\u2019s governing body Fifa\u2019s proposed private investment plan, saying on Friday they were alarmed it had reached the point a \u201cWorld Cup boycott has entered public discourse\u201d.
\nA damaging blow to Fifa president Gianni Infantino came with the later resignation of a senior adviser Carlos Cordeiro, who issued an excoriating statement.
\n\u201cAs a senior advisor to the Fifa president, a former banker, and a lifelong football fan, I cannot stand by while Fifa considers selling a stake in the World Cup,\u201d wrote Cordeiro, a former head of the US Soccer Federation.
\n\u201cLet me be clear: I had no involvement in this proposal, and I oppose it unequivocally.
\n\u201cIt is a bad deal for Fifa\u2019s member associations, a bad deal for football, and a bad deal for the long-term future of the game.\u201d
\nHis resignation and the AFC statement came hours after Fifa vowed to press ahead with an \u201copen and democratic\u201d consultation on the plan.
\nThe statement followed a pledge by Europe\u2019s governing body Uefa to boycott the World Cup if Fifa went ahead with its plan which set alarm bells ringing within the AFC.
\n\u201cThe AFC stands in solidarity with Uefa and CONCACAF in expressing serious concerns over Fifa\u2019s proposal,\u201d the Kuala Lumpur-based body said in a statement.
\n\u201cThe fact that the situation has reached the point where the real possibility of a Fifa World Cup boycott has entered public discourse should concern everyone who cares about the future of our game,\u201d said the AFC, which represents 47 member nations, including Australia, China, Japan and Saudi Arabia.
\nFifa said in a statement all of its member associations should have a chance to consider the plan.
\n\u201cNobody is selling football,\u201d it said.
\n\u201cThis is not something Fifa would ever entertain.\u201d
\nIt also said it had heard feedback from Uefa and CONCACAF, the governing body for football in North and Central America, which said all 41 of its member associations had rejected Fifa\u2019s proposal to sell a stake in the business operations of the World Cup.
\nThe world body also said its planned consultation process had been \u201cdisrupted by incorrect media reports\u201d.
\n\u201cWe respect the feedback and concern aired in public and reaffirm our commitment to an open and democratic consultation,\u201d Fifa\u2019s statement said.
\n\u201cWe will proceed with this consultation process to ensure that each (member association) has the ability to express its vote based on facts,\u201d it said.
\nFifa has said the plan it announced on Tuesday could raise up to $4.2 billion based on a valuation of $20 billion for the Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE), the commercial subsidiary it proposed to run events such as the World Cup and Club World Cup.
\nIf approved, the project could provide each of Fifa\u2019s 211 member associations with a one-off payment of $20 million in early 2027 and increase their funding allocation for the 2027-2030 cycle from $8 million to $20 million.
\nPrivate investors would be allowed under the proposal to acquire stakes in the company but would remain minority shareholders.
\nUK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said that Infantino \u201cis the wrong man to lead\u201d Fifa, calling the plan an \u201coutrageous suggestion\u201d.
\n\u2018Time for a hydration break\u2019
\nUefa said in an earlier statement none of its national teams would participate in any Fifa competition \u201cfor so long as these proposals remain alive\u201d.
\n\u201cThe World Cup cannot be treated as an investment product\u2026 No part of it should ever be surrendered to private investors. The World Cup is not for sale,\u201d it said.
\nInfantino had described the initiative on Wednesday as a \u201cgolden opportunity to turbocharge the development of the game globally\u201d.
\nHowever, Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin, who boycotted the World Cup final to show unhappiness with Fifa, said there was no place in world football for such a model.
\n\u201cFootball\u2019s future cannot be dictated by the expectations of those whose first duty is to maximise financial return,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cNor can the interests of national associations, leagues, clubs, players and supporters become subordinate to investor returns. Football cannot mortgage its future for financial gain.\u201d
\nThe European Union praised Uefa on Thursday for \u201cdefending the integrity of the game\u201d.
\nUefa also received approval from Chelsea\u2019s Spanish coach Xabi Alonso, who was a member of the 2010 World Cup-winning side.
\n\u201cWe have seen a great World Cup, and some things they (should) stay the same way. So it\u2019s good to defend the interests from other people,\u201d he said in Sydney, where the London club are on a pre-season tour.
\nCONCACAF members, including the three co-hosts of the recent World Cup, unanimously rejected the proposal on Thursday.
\nOn a lighter note a beer brand that is a major Uefa sponsor posted an advert with the line \u2018Time for a hydration break, Gianni? Probably,\u2019 referring to the pauses in each half for the players at the World Cup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
World football\u2019s governing body vows to press ahead with \u201copen and democratic\u201d consultation on proposed plan washington The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) joined Uefa and CONCACAF in condemning world football\u2019s governing body Fifa\u2019s proposed private investment plan, saying on Friday they were alarmed it had reached the point a \u201cWorld Cup boycott has entered public …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":101090,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101105"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":101118,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101105\/revisions\/101118"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}