It was on Tuesday that the International Football Association Board (FIFA) announced that it wants to create a new subsidiary that will "collect and operate all of FIFA's commercial rights" for the main men's and women's tournaments, such as the World Cup and the Club World Cup.
The European Football Association (Uefa) is furious over the news. Sky Sports reports that Uefa is expected to hold an emergency meeting as early as this week. According to information from Bloomberg, there are internal discussions within Uefa about boycotting future championships under FIFA's auspices.
“Justified concerns”
"The soul and governance of football are not assets that can be sold or traded away - especially not when there is a total lack of transparency about who benefits financially from it. None of us own football. It is not FIFA's to sell," writes Uefa.
The Swedish Football Association (SvFF) supports the criticism.
"We note and share the legitimate concerns and questions that UEFA has raised regarding the proposal and will carefully analyse it in full," SvFF writes in a statement.
SvFF states that it has received information from FIFA.
"The starting point of increasing financial support is important for the development of football, but it is absolutely crucial that such a change takes place with full transparency and in a way that protects the integrity of football. It is of utmost importance that football itself has control over its rights and how these are managed," the statement says.
FIFA's plan is to sell 20 percent of a new commercial company, reports the Financial Times and the British The Times. The company is called Fifa Forward Enterprise and is valued at around $20 billion (194 billion kronor), Fifa writes on its website.
Didn't know about the plans
Fifa confirms previous media reports that the major bank JP Morgan is involved and also that a company run by Joshua Kushner - brother of US President Donald Trump's son-in-law - is to be the driving force in the investor group, according to a press release from Fifa.
The Norwegian Football Association tells NTB that it was not aware of the plans and needs time to familiarise itself with the matter before a comment can be made.
The Danish Football Association (DBU) sees the proposal as worrying, but wants to take a closer look at FIFA's plans and discuss them internally under European auspices before the DBU expresses its opinion, Ritzau reports.
