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Posted by dickfickling 4 hours ago

UEFA and its national associations will not participate in FIFA competitions(www.uefa.com)
569 points | 328 commentspage 4
ratelimitsteve 2 hours ago|
like so many corrupt organizations lately, FIFA has been getting away with it for a long time and they overplayed their hand. this was a long time coming and i'm really glad to see it.
shark1 2 hours ago||
Wow! You have my respect, UEFA.
t0mpr1c3 3 hours ago||
Europe is where all the money is made in football. UEFA just want more of the pie.

FIFA is a repulsive pit of corruption but UEFA isn't much better.

Remember Blatter and Platini?

jen20 3 hours ago|
Blatter was president of FIFA, not UEFA.
t0mpr1c3 3 hours ago|||
Yes, and when Blatter was investigated for corruption both he and Platini, president of UEFA, were banned.

This was barely 10 years ago, it's not ancient history.

Platini is still suing Infantino now.

jen20 2 hours ago||
In even more recent history, both were cleared by a court of wrongdoing [1]. Infantino is clearly worse in every respect.

[1]: https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/44397617/ex-fifa-chie...

t0mpr1c3 1 hour ago|||
Who can decide the precedence of a louse and a flea?
kzrdude 2 hours ago|||
And Infantino has been in high leadership in UEFA (not president), then FIFA
onesandofgrain 3 hours ago||
..
triceratops 3 hours ago||
You seem to believe things that bring people joy are a waste of human potential. Please explain. Are we only meant to be machines that produce 16/7?
kreyenborgi 3 hours ago||
I wish sports would be sports, business be business, and politics politics. Whenever they mix, it is for the worse.
hn_submit 3 hours ago||
I find the UEFA standpoint a little disingenuous since commercial interests have been a top priority in football (soccer) for decades. Claiming that allowing investors to participate will hurt the sport are at the very least a misrepresentation of the current situation.

Although I disagree with his methods and goals I enjoy watching the way Infantino uses power play to stack the cards in his favor.

The only way for the UEFA to reclaim authority would be to demand two-thirds voting rights. The model of "one country, one vote" clearly works to UEFA's disadvantage even though its clubs contribute the majority of FIFA's income.

t0mpr1c3 2 hours ago|
Yes, it's a stretch to believe that UEFA is objecting strictly on a point of principle.

UEFA seems to think people have forgotten that they tried to buy off top teams from the national organizations into a European super league.

In effect they did it anyway with CL.

bl0b 2 hours ago||||
The super league wasn't UEFA's doing at all. The top clubs themselves tried to break away and self-organize, and they ultimately won some concessions from UEFA (new CL format, more CL money to the big teams)
bwnkl 2 hours ago||
I think they meant the original idea of the European Super League from the 1980s (that preceded the Champions League)
mrhottakes 3 hours ago||
Good. Good riddance.
einrealist 3 hours ago||
Yes, but isn't football already overly commercialised? Why is advertising for sports betting or alcohol any better than the FIFA issue? UEFA should take a look at itself, too.
jimbokun 3 hours ago|
You can be against more than one thing.
Ekaros 3 hours ago||
FIFA is just upholding western values. Profit, exploitation and money over everything else. They with FIA and likes are just showing the world what truly matters for western world.
tmgldn 3 hours ago||
Put it this way - Europeans don't generally call themselves from "the West" in 2026 - it's an American geopolitical fantasy.
t0mpr1c3 3 hours ago||
To be fair, China and Russia participate in the fantasy.
paxys 3 hours ago|||
American values, not western.
marcosdumay 3 hours ago||||
US values, from the culture of the last 40 years.
orangedog 3 hours ago|||
We're really going to act like the entire world doesn't have issues with this.

Given this is a worldwide institution dealing with this, I think you are both casting the new too small.

Famously before either the US or Western world, these values were never celebrated.

xhevahir 3 hours ago|||
Or maybe not, since it's Europe who are objecting here?
callamdelaney 3 hours ago||
Yet it’s the very west uefa protesting.. right
TechTechTech 4 hours ago||
[dupe] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49112089
devy 3 hours ago||
According to aljazeera's article, "the core investor would be a New York venture capital investment firm created by Joshua Kushner, the brother of US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner."
ChrisArchitect 3 hours ago|||
Welcome. Not a dupe if some time has passed between submissions without much discussion or upvotes. And this is the source.
vrganj 3 hours ago||
Dupe of a dupe: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49108292
ChrisArchitect 3 hours ago||
Welcome. Not a dupe if some time has passed between submissions without much discussion or upvotes. And this is the source.
glitchc 4 hours ago|
Cue UEFA's leadership being replaced in the next year or two. FIFA has had a taste of the amount of money involved in professional sports. There's no going back.
CodingJeebus 3 hours ago||
50 of the 55 member UEFA states took the floor to express their outrage at FIFA, this is not a matter of UEFA leadership being out of touch. The vast majority of the confederation is ready to walk.
glitchc 2 hours ago||
I understand that this is a principled stand by UEFA, no doubt about it. But the amount of money in the offering is too large for the clubs (and their superstars) to snub their noses at it. When it comes down to money, principles are the first to be bought and sold.
CodingJeebus 1 hour ago||
I don't think you do understand, because the nation associations involved (not clubs) have resoundingly rejected this plan. First UEFA has announced their complete boycott, now CONCACAF has rejected it. This is DOA and Infantino just gave the delegation a huge reason to run a candidate against him in the upcoming elections.
t0mpr1c3 3 hours ago||
FIFA has been spectacularly corrupt since at least thd 1970s, and UEFA is not far behind.

When Blatter was kicked out of FIFA for corruption, the USA provided a legal venue for the investigation. Between Infantino and Trump you would think that is off the table.

Expect some kind of back door deal.