Uefa to weigh response to Fifa's World Cup investor plan

Uefa will meet its 55 member associations on Thursday afternoon to decide how to respond to Fifa’s push to create a commercial subsidiary for the World Cup and other major events. The emergency talks come after Fifa said on Tuesday that it wanted outside investors to buy stakes in the business, turning a corporate proposal into a fight over who controls football’s revenues, calendar and workload.

The backlash has already spread beyond Europe. The Football Association said it was “deeply concerned” about Fifa’s plans, and Concacaf was also described as “deeply concerned” about the move. Uefa has been reported accusing Fifa of putting the game’s “soul” up for sale, while a boycott of the World Cup is among the options under discussion if Fifa pushes ahead.

The numbers attached to the plan have varied, but the scale is unmistakable. Fifa’s proposal has been put at a $20 billion commercial subsidiary, while other coverage has described it as a $4.2 billion investor plan or a $10 billion private investment proposal. Regional confederations were blindsided by the plan, deepening the sense inside Europe and North and Central America that Fifa is trying to shift control of the sport’s commercial core toward outside capital.

Aleksander Ceferin is central to Uefa’s response, and the meeting is another sign of the widening rift between Uefa and Gianni Infantino’s Fifa over football’s future business model. A commercial arm built around the World Cup would give Fifa a new route to monetize its biggest competitions, but it would also sharpen disputes with leagues and national associations over scheduling, player workload and the distribution of revenue. The emergency session is meant to give Europe a coordinated line before the argument moves into the wider battle over control of the sport’s money.