Europe to Boycott Future FIFA Competitions Over World Cup Attempted Sale To Private Investors

[Cristiano]

Uefa agrees to boycott Fifa competitions if World Cup sell-off plans proceed

 

[Cristiano]

Europe just quit the World Cup. UEFA and all 55 of its national associations announced they will not participate in FIFA competitions. No France, no England, no Spain, no Germany in the biggest tournament on earth.

The trigger is wild. Infantino wants to sell a piece of the World Cup to private investors for $4.2 billion. And each of the 211 national associations gets $20 million for voting yes.

211 times $20 million is $4.2 billion. The entire raise equals the approval payments. The investors would be funding the yes votes on their own acquisition.

Infantino thought the voting math made him unbeatable. FIFA runs on one country, one vote, so San Marino counts the same as Germany, and $86 million per federation through 2038 is transformative for small associations that have never qualified for a World Cup. He needs 106 of 211 votes, and he was buying them at retail.

UEFA just found the counter. Europe can't win the vote, so it's destroying the asset instead. European teams have won 12 of the 22 World Cups ever played. European broadcast money anchors the rights being sold. A World Cup without Europe is worth a fraction of the price, and every investor Kushner and JP Morgan are courting knows it by now.

The F1 comparison everyone's making misses the difference. Greg Maffei, who ran Liberty Media's Formula 1 takeover, is structuring this deal, but F1 privatization worked because the teams had nowhere else to race. UEFA already runs the Champions League and the Euros. Europe can exist without FIFA. FIFA cannot exist without Europe.

The vote is September 19. Infantino has the votes. UEFA has the teams. Only one of those makes a World Cup worth watching.

 

[Free]

If this goes through, I say create an alternative to the World Cup. Call it... the Universe Cup.

 

[Cristiano]

 

[Cristiano]

This is blowing up in FIFA’s face:

 

[Cristiano]

Of course there is a Trump connection

 

[Cristiano]

 

[Sheera Khan]

Without UEFA and CONCACAF-teams the worldcup would be "very interesting". Go for it Team Mauritius! (*gins*) I wonder how many billions he would collect for the TV rights though...

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Asia is now joining the boycott as well, meaning Infantino's plans will have no majority in case of a vote any longer.

 

[Cristiano]

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

If this goes through, I say create an alternative to the World Cup. Call it... the Universe Cup.

Why do we always skip "Solar System" in this kind of thing? I hear they play AMAZING soccer and have beautiful people on Kepler-452b, so those competitions should only try to speak for the solar system!

 

[Veritable Quandry]

Why do we always skip "Solar System" in this kind of thing? I hear they play AMAZING soccer and have beautiful people on Kepler-452b, so those competitions should only try to speak for the solar system!

It sidesteps the controversy over the status of Pluto's team. Half of Earth players refuse to recognize them as a proper planet, and Eris demands to be included if Pluto is.

 

[Free]

I hear they play AMAZING soccer and have beautiful people on Kepler-452b

Actually, they play something called f̷̢̨̧̨̜̻̟̝̘͍̠͓̺̜͓̊͌͌̍̌͛̇̌̆̄̊͌̈́̀͊́̄̓͘͝ŭ̷̡̧̪̞̮̗͙̫̯̯̝̗͉̳̝̮̒̒̒̓̈́͌̈̓̍̀̈͘͝͝ͅt̵̙̩̯̘͈͉͍̲̐͋̍̔͆̌̾̑͒̅͐̀̄̾̉͑̃̕̕̚͝͝b̷̧̝̮̼̘͎̬̞̠̲̯̈̀̇̈́̇͊̍̒͂̿̀̈́͗͌͒̓̍̓̕͘͝ơ̷̡̧̢̮̯̳̭̜̳̼͚̟̳̩͛͑̇͊̎̅̋̅̿̒͗̏͋̈́̃̄́̄̄̈́̏̽̕͘̚͝͠l̴̨̳͖̳̣͉̭̱̥͇͖̳͇̖̪͖̖͙͓̪͓͋̆͌̽͝

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

It worked! Infantino shelves private equity sale plans after widespread opposition

 

[Lori Claremont]

Good

 

[Veritable Quandry]

The deal was already worth far less when Europe threatened to drop FIFA. When the Americas and Asia followed suit, he didn't even have the votes for a far lower value deal.

 

[Free]

Now Infantino knows who the boss is in this equation, so expect extreme efforts to change that math in the coming months.

 

[Cristiano]

It worked! Infantino shelves private equity sale plans after widespread opposition

He had zero choice. Now they need to get rid of him. He did this pretty much on his own, even keeping it from other FIFA officials.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

It worked! Infantino shelves private equity sale plans after widespread opposition

That's a beginning, nothing more. Next step should be driving Infantino out of his seat ASAP.

 

[Cristiano]