The Football Association is perturbed by the plans of Fifa to sell equity in its big tournaments, Yankee Scores reports.
The 55 member nations of Uefa are due to hold an emergency meeting later in the week amid growing outrage about the proposals.
The Uefa meeting will take place online and provide an opportunity to develop a strategy.
FA Condemns Lack of Process in FIFA Proposal
In light of the level of anger – the FA claims it was not consulted before the announcement of Fifa’s proposal was made after Uefa had made its own statement.
Fifa has stated that it wishes to increase the money allocated for football development to over $10bn (£7.5bn). The body says that this is in order to develop the sport, provided it gets the approval of its member associations.
This news broke first in the Financial Times and the Times, which claims that these plans can potentially earn millions for Fifa president Gianni Infantino, per BBC Sport.
An FA spokeswoman said: “We were completely unaware of this proposal and have no substantive details, including what the proposition actually is and what conditions are attached.
“Based on the limited information, we are deeply concerned about the lack of process and governance to get to this point, and the apparent substance and principles involved.
“When the proposal is shared in the full and transparent way now promised by Fifa, we will make our views clear and comment further.”
While Uefa knows that it only represents a quarter of all Fifa’s 211 member nations, it includes some of the best football teams of the world.
Why Europe Holds the Cards
In the World Cup, held this summer, six of the eight teams that reached the quarter-finals – including the champion team of Spain – were from Europe. In 2022 and 2018 competitions there were five and six, respectively.
It is obvious for Uefa that without the participation of its members, any tournament that Fifa can organize will be much less valuable.
As a result of Fifa’s claim that it is forced to consider such proposals as a way of developing the game internationally, people become afraid that, in their efforts to increase income, its major tournaments, the men’s and women’s World Cup and corresponding Club World Cup, may take place more frequently and include more participants.
This situation will change the football schedule, which has been very tight for many years owing to the development of club tournaments in Europe.
Yankee Scores reported yester that European football’s governing body Uefa vehemently rejected plans by Fifa to invite private investments into its events, including the World Cup.
