UEFA reportedly set to lift threat to boycott FIFA tournaments

UEFA is set to lift its threat to boycott FIFA events after it reportedly received guarantees there will be no repeat of its controversial private investor plan.

European nations agreed to a boycott at an emergency meeting on July 30, which it said would only be lifted if FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s controversial plan to seek private investment in a company to run the World Cup was scrapped, and if binding guarantees were given that no such move would be made in the future.

Infantino ditched the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) plan two days later, but the threat of a boycott had remained due to the second condition not being met.

However, reports say UEFA has now received guarantees from FIFA, paving the way for European teams to play in its competitions, beginning with the Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Poland which starts next week.

FIFA and UEFA have declined to comment on the reports.

UEFA had called for “binding assurances” that FIFA “will never again open its governance or competitions to private ownership”.

FIFA, in a letter to its member associations on August 5, apologised for the process it followed for FFE and made a commitment that such errors would not happen again, without appearing to make any pledge specifically on private ownership.

Any decision to lift the boycott would not alter UEFA’s position in regard to Infantino’s leadership, with UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin telling The Rest Is Politics on Monday that the Swiss should resign or prepare to be challenged for the presidency at next year’s FIFA Congress.

The presidents of the Asian Football Confederation and CONCACAF – which represents nations from North and Central America and the Caribbean – are also understood to believe Infantino should