UEFA is preparing to call off its boycott of FIFA tournaments after assurances were given that a controversial move to sell a stake in the commercial and operational rights of the World Cup would not be revived.
European football’s governing body and FIFA president Gianni Infantino have been engaged in a public war of words ever since plans for the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) surfaced in July this year.
The organisation’s member associations agreed a ban on future FIFA contests in July of this year and have maintained this stance in recent weeks despite FIFA retracting the proposal and issuing an apology for “mistakes”.
Talks between the European body and football’s world governing body are said to have resulted in a breakthrough, though, and UEFA is to abandon the boycott.
AP reports that the organisation’s member associations are due to meet on Thursday to end their protest, allowing the six European-qualified teams, of which Poland are hosts, to play in the FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup later in the year.
FIFA said they welcomed any resolution that ensured “all qualifiers participate”, in a statement to reporters. The protracted issue put Mr Infantino under pressure at home, with UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin suggesting recently that Mr Infantino should stand aside or be beaten at the presidential elections held next year.
Candidates are not, however, due to register by next month’s deadline of November 18 so the battle for power at FIFA is by no means over.
