FIFA: UEFA maintains its boycott of the World Cup

Despite FIFA's public apology following the abandonment of the World Cup stake sale project, UEFA remains firm in its boycott of global competitions. The European governing body reiterated its threat in an official statement.

UEFA sent out a fresh statement to English media on Thursday, responding to the apology issued by FIFA the previous night. According to UEFA, these apologies and the full support expressed for Gianni Infantino, FIFA president, “change nothing” regarding its stance. For the European body, which is threatening FIFA with a boycott of its competitions including the World Cup, the necessary conditions to end this threat “have not been met”.

See also: World Cup 2030 final: Gianni Infantino and Morocco, FIFA denies

UEFA has put two main conditions on the table to lift the threat of a boycott. The first is the withdrawal of any projects to sell stakes in major competitions, including the now-abandoned World Cup plan at the heart of FIFA's current crisis. The second is a guarantee that “no further attempts to distort the game will ever be made again.” As a result, UEFA insists its boycott stance “still holds”.

FIFA stands by Gianni Infantino

On Wednesday, FIFA issued a statement backing its president. The organization assured that “the members of the FIFA Executive Council present reaffirmed their full support” for Gianni Infantino. While FIFA now believes that “apologies have been made for these mistakes, along with a commitment to ensure they are never repeated”, it also stressed that it “will no longer tolerate any attack on its integrity, good governance, and respect for due process” now that the project has been scrapped.

Joshua SOSSOU

Editorfr, en, ar

As a sports fan, and particularly a football fan, I've been putting my writing talent to good use for a number of years now to promote African talent and the continent's football in general. On Foot Africa, enjoy reading each of my lines.

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