FIFA selling out? Would you boycott the WC?

[Andrew]

This is the bad side of democracy (and I really love democracy).  1 country 1 vote is amazing.  But there have been what, 8 WC winners ever?   And Uruguay doesn't really count.  At all times there's really only above 6 countries that can win.   So many countries can't win, can't even reasonable make the finals.  So what else do they get?   Money.  That's it.  Nothing else.   

I think UEFA should pull out of FIFA.   I think, in 2 years, US, Canada and Mexico would join (we get railroaded by CONCACAF votes).  I think COMEBAL would likely join.   Form a new league.  It would not be the "World" but it would take the corporate sponsors and FIFA would collapse. 

Why don't two times winners, one more than England, count?

[Andrew]

This needs knocking on the head. FIFA remains corrupt and to be honest I am not a fan of EUFA either but they could partially redeem themselves here.

EUFA and the American confederation n4eed to get together and boycott/withdraw from FIFA if this goes ahead.

[Neutral Zone Ultra]

This is the bad side of democracy (and I really love democracy).  1 country 1 vote is amazing.  But there have been what, 8 WC winners ever?   And Uruguay doesn't really count.  At all times there's really only above 6 countries that can win.   So many countries can't win, can't even reasonable make the finals.  So what else do they get?   Money.  That's it.  Nothing else.   

I think UEFA should pull out of FIFA.   I think, in 2 years, US, Canada and Mexico would join (we get railroaded by CONCACAF votes).  I think COMEBAL would likely join.   Form a new league.  It would not be the "World" but it would take the corporate sponsors and FIFA would collapse. 

Why don't two times winners, one more than England, count?

Yes this is extremely snobby against Uruguay, who were the best team in the world throughout the 1920s and early 1930s (winning the Olympics as well as the WC), had the foresight to set up a global competition and built the infrastructure to host it. They also had arguably the best player in the world at the time (Jose Andrade) and passionate support. Then in 1950 they caused such an upset against Brazil (Maracanazo) that it's still remembered bitterly in Brazilian culture. I thoroughly recommend Jonathan Wilson's book "The Power and the Glory" which is a really insightful read into the history of the World Cup.

Especially petty given England didn't even try to enter the tournament until 1950 given we thought our own domestic tournaments were more presitigious.

[Neutral Zone Ultra]

Has Infantino lost his mind? reported he is selling a stake in FIFA to corporates including potentially the orange one and family to generate 4.2b USD...  Will it lead to say Nike ensuring that CR07 has his ban rescinded in order to play the opening games of the or special treatment to a nation that has a vested interest in that nation progressing?? Or an extra long time for a show and hydration breaks to sell sponsorship.. i mean it already is happening without the global giant corporates having a say. Sadly Infantino has the backing of a majority of nations so cannot be voted out.

Would you boycott watching the WC if the European nations (ie UEFA broke away) were not there?

He hasn't lost his mind, he knows exactly what he's doing, self-enrichment at the expense of the people who love the game.

[Neutral Zone Ultra]

I won't live long enough but would def boycott it when America get it again.

Under the new privatised World Cup don't be surprised to see it there every few years at least, hydration breaks, celebrities, half time shows, all part of the of American vulture capitalism machine set up to extract as much money out of the game as possible and ensure it ends up solely in the pockets of Infantino, Trump and his mates, JP Morgan and the other private equity firms.

[Angus Telford]

The latest details - that the investment will be headed by Trump's son-in-law Joshua Kushner, and national federations have been offered a time-limited incentive of $40m to support the proposal - say it all.

It's a surreal, James Bond villain level of corruption and vulgarity.

As I said on the World Cup thread, it's a symptom of everything that's gone wrong in the West recently that there are talented, hardworking people struggling to afford a simple home in places like London, and these worthless snakes are millionaires and billionaires.

[Terry Towling]

I want UEFA and the other main associations to pull out and form an alternative governing body. Let's see how far FIFA gets grabbing money when the World Cup final is between French Guiana and the Central African Republic.

[Terry Towling]

Generate millions upon millions of dollars for country federations to grow the sport and opportunity to play football in their regions. Corruption under Infantino is at an all time low compared to precious regimes.

I don't care that some nobody screaming sportswashing but spends their waking moments on a football forum and contributes the the problem disagrees with it.

Moreover, UEFA is posturing because it can. It's the strongest regional body by far. But when push comes to shove they'd never do something as crazy as what OP states they might.

It is now the MOST corrupt it has ever been..you now have the President of the US choosing who is banned from playing. The rules are all in the bin and the Trumpintino crime family are calling the shots. Everything that Trump and his family touch rots.

[SuperFreeman]

Has Infantino lost his mind? reported he is selling a stake in FIFA to corporates including potentially the orange one and family to generate 4.2b USD...  Will it lead to say Nike ensuring that CR07 has his ban rescinded in order to play the opening games of the or special treatment to a nation that has a vested interest in that nation progressing?? Or an extra long time for a show and hydration breaks to sell sponsorship.. i mean it already is happening without the global giant corporates having a say. Sadly Infantino has the backing of a majority of nations so cannot be voted out.

Would you boycott watching the WC if the European nations (ie UEFA broke away) were not there?

Infantino looks like the Bond bad guy from Spectre. All he needs is a white cat. Clearly, he's lost the plot. Turned into a Sepp Blatter, who was eventually fired for corruption and bribery.

[EN1 FFC]

Don't worry if Europe pulls out Infartino will invite Russia back in, give Putin the Nobel Peace prize and have Abramovich fund it.
You only have to look at the world club championship where he invited most of the corrupt clubs in the world to take part.

[hopper]

UEFA apparently will boycott the World Cup

https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/article/uefa-boycott-fifa-world-cup-aleksander-ceferin-gianni-infantino-j3wdmgdl8

[JimOG]

UEFA apparently will boycott the World Cup

https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/article/uefa-boycott-fifa-world-cup-aleksander-ceferin-gianni-infantino-j3wdmgdl8

But Joshua Kushner will be penniless??

[DadCreature]

This just got serious.  I doubt CONCACAF will join because of all the small states that get paid off (search for how the Cayman Islands turned in Jack Warner over $20,000 in a brown paper bag) but I strongly hope the USA, Mexico and Canada join. 

[Jim©]

Thankfully it now looks like Infantino's plan to turn the World Cup more commercial has fallen at the first hurdle.
UEFA, CONCACAF and the Asian Football Federation have all said that they will boycott the new Cup, meaning that 143 nations out of the 211 will vote against. Infantino and Trump (let's not pretend it's nothing to do with him) needed over 50% of the Associations to vote yes.

Lovely to see some backbone against the corruption that was clearly on display at the WC.

[FFCpmd]

Surely this is exactly what Infantino and FIFA are hoping for - every other nation apart from Argentina boycotts the next World Cup, then Argentina can play themselves in every round, including the final, where they will score against themselves to win the World Cup (with the first shot of the match in the 90th minute).   

[jayffc]

Thankfully it now looks like Infantino's plan to turn the World Cup more commercial has fallen at the first hurdle.
UEFA, CONCACAF and the Asian Football Federation have all said that they will boycott the new Cup, meaning that 143 nations out of the 211 will vote against. Infantino and Trump (let's not pretend it's nothing to do with him) needed over 50% of the Associations to vote yes.

Lovely to see some backbone against the corruption that was clearly on display at the WC.

Great news

Grateful to see pushback against selling out a beloved sport for the sake of even more commercialisation when it already makes a crap top of money as it is.

There's a line I can take between it being a product with heart and something of a soulless money grab altered away from tradition and turned into a botched version of the game for the sake of milking it dry with advertising

Drinks breaks and a half an hour half time were an absolute stain messing with the flow of a game imo. Absurd. Anyway, glad people are telling them to shove it

[Volz]

Thankfully it now looks like Infantino's plan to turn the World Cup more commercial has fallen at the first hurdle.
UEFA, CONCACAF and the Asian Football Federation have all said that they will boycott the new Cup, meaning that 143 nations out of the 211 will vote against. Infantino and Trump (let's not pretend it's nothing to do with him) needed over 50% of the Associations to vote yes.

Lovely to see some backbone against the corruption that was clearly on display at the WC.

That is not entirely correct. UEFA is the only of those three that has threatened with boycott. Neither CONCACAF nor AFF has mentioned anything about a boycott, I think the wording was something in the line of "we are concerned". That is a massive difference in practical terms.

From my understanding the regional organs also do not directly and bombastically make the difference when it comes to the voting mentioned 19th of September. I understood it as that voting will be up to the individual nations.
Which means, for instance, Canada and Brazil may have no interest in participating in an amputated WC and vote no, in line with what CONCACAF has stated.
Then tons of smaller countries might see an opportunity to get their hands on s vast sum of money that they would never ever in their wildest dreams achieve otherwise and still vote yes.
My impression is that the only regional organ that stands entirely uniform with all their nations is UEFA.
Note that Mexico for instance, member of CONCACAF, stated something like "we will look into whatever suggestion that benefits Mexico the most", no condemnation, not even questioning FIFA here.

[JimmyConway]

Rats leaving the Sinking Ship? Carlos Cordeiro Senior advisor to Infantino has resigned! Probably the start of many and as mentioned in earlier thread the Whistleblower/s will bring his reign to an end.

[Colton F.C.]

It is up to the votes of individual nation FAs not the federations. I suspect that Infantino has a comfortable majority.  Will Russia and Belrussia support UEFA or Saudi and the Gulf States support the Asian federation? Possibly not. Generally there antipathy towards UEFA from the rest of the world and the proposal affords the opportunity for a bit of pay back.

It then falls down to the 'investors'. Will they put the money in for a denuded competition.  Time for UEFA to hold its nerve.

[Jim©]

That is not entirely correct. UEFA is the only of those three that has threatened with boycott. Neither CONCACAF nor AFF has mentioned anything about a boycott, I think the wording was something in the line of "we are concerned". That is a massive difference in practical terms.

The wording of the Asian FA was  "we stand in solidarity with Uefa and Concacaf to protect the Fifa World Cup", which to my mind isn't  a huge difference in practical terms.