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.
Statement on behalf of UEFA and its 55 National AssociationStatement on behalf of UEFA and its 55 National AssociationStatement on behalf of UEFA and its 55 National AssociationStatement on behalf of UEFA and its 55 National Associations
Okay, wow. By accusing us of “fake news” with „Man City bidding“ (never reported) you’ve unfortunately crossed a line.
I never wanted to bring this up, but your Klopp report was simply ridiculous and disrespectful to every journalist who actually does proper reporting. One day after the DFB had already named him in its official statement, you posted a “here we go”. Posting a signing soon and it’s almost one week later. I honestly thought you’d have the decency not to do that.
Anyone could have posted that Klopp HWG because it was obvious he was going to become Germany’s head coach. Your report was based on probability, not on actual agreements.
As long as you keep deleting false „here we go’s“ and posting results minutes before the final whistle just because of algorithms and the need to be first in the race against 433 and score apps, only to delete them five minutes later because Neymar scores, you should probably keep a lower sound overall. The same applies when you fail to credit the original source in a large share of your Instagram posts.
Do your business. We’ll do ours. But accusing others of spreading lies is quite ironic coming from someone in your position. Good night.