UEFA maintains FIFA boycott despite board backing Gianni Infantino - 'Conditions have not been met’
Updated 06/08/2026 at 16:14 GMT+1
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UEFA's boycott of FIFA tournaments remains in place after Gianni Infantino retained the backing of football's governing body. FIFA said its secretary general and management board "reaffirmed their full support" for the president on Wednesday.
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Infantino has come under heavy scrutiny following a controversial FIFA World Cup, and subsequent plans to create a new FIFA subsidiary, and sell a minority stake of it to outside investors.
UEFA (European football's governing body), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean) and AFC (Asian confederation) all publicly opposed Infantino's plans to form a new $20 billion entity called FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) which would control events like the World Cup, and sell a 21% stake of it for $4.2bn (£3.1bn) to private investors.
While Infantino received a vote of confidence from FIFA's management board, UEFA said on Thursday that the "conditions have not been met" to lift its World Cup boycott and that it still lacks faith in the under-fire FIFA president.
A UEFA statement said, as per Sky News: "UEFA's associations were very clear about the conditions attached to the non-participation in FIFA competitions.
"First, the proposals to sell off the major competitions had to be withdrawn, and secondly, assurances have to be made that such attempts to disfigure the game in this way will never be made again.
"These conditions have not been met. In addition, UEFA made it abundantly clear in its statement on Saturday that it has lost confidence in Gianni Infantino's presidency. That position holds.
"Yesterday's [Wednesday] announcement that some people employed by the FIFA president [and whose careers depend on his favour] agree with him changes nothing."
FIFA acknowledges 'mistakes'
FIFA said on Wednesday that the meeting, held in Rabat, "will strengthen FIFA's governance, help restore confidence in the organisation and enable us to prepare for the major events and challenges ahead in a united and transparent manner while continuing our mission to develop the game around the world".
World football's governing body said "mistakes" in the FFE plan were acknowledged during the meeting, and concluded that "the process should have been handled differently".
"It was further acknowledged that errors were also made after the proposal was leaked to media," the statement continued.
It added that a separate letter had been issued to the FIFA Council and member associations to apologise for those errors.
FIFA reaffirmed that the FFE proposal had been withdrawn, as was announced on Friday, following significant backlash.
"With the project withdrawn, it was agreed that FIFA will no longer tolerate any attacks on its integrity, good governance and due process and will take all necessary measures to protect and safeguard its name and reputation," it said.
"There are always lessons to be learned, and FIFA will continue to improve its processes in light of this experience. In this instance, however, it is important to stress that, although mistakes were made, everything that was done was done in full compliance with the FIFA regulatory framework."
FIFA's initial FFE proposal offered payments of up to $40 million [£30m] to its member associations if they were to endorse the entity's creation and part-sale. The plan would have required a majority vote from FIFA's 211 member nations.
However, several nations and confederations were opposed to Infantino's plan, while two senior FIFA staff - secretary general Mattias Grafstrom and CEO Kevin Lamour - also voiced their resistance.
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Grafstrom was present at Wednesday's meeting, after reports on Monday detailed a letter he sent to FIFA staff in which he described the FFE plans as "sad".
Earlier on Wednesday, UEFA football advisor Luis Figo called for Infantino to resign from his role, claiming he had "lied, deceived and tried to feather his own nest at the expense of the game he is supposed to serve".
Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, FIFA’s chief of global football development, also distanced himself from the FFE plans and said its withdrawal was "absolutely necessary".
The controversial FFE plan followed a World Cup tournament which saw Infantino come under pressure after FIFA suspended the one-match ban given to U.S. forward Folarin Balogun for his red card against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the last 32.
United States president Donald Trump confirmed in the days after that he had been in contact with Infantino and requested a review of the ban. Balogun subsequently played in the last-16 defeat to Belgium.
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