The International Football Association Board (FIFA) announced on Tuesday that it plans to sell shares in the commercial rights to FIFA's biggest championships to private investors.
In a letter to the 211 member associations - which has been seen by several media outlets - FIFA writes that each national association will receive the equivalent of 194 million kronor if the proposal is approved. Each association that votes yes to the proposal will receive an additional 194 million kronor, writes The Times.
Åström: More important than money
The chairman of the Swedish Football Association (SvFF), Simon Åström, confirms to TT that the association has taken note of the letter.
This letter came to our attention today and we have a democratic process, which means that we naturally need to analyse this material more carefully. Then we need to deal with it in our board, he says and continues:
Based on the material we have now received, there are many parts that we are both questioning and critical of.
Åström believes that the issue is bigger than just money.
When we take a final decision after this process, there are issues that are fundamentally more important for football than whether we should receive this money or not. It is about what the football ecosystem and governance models should look like, and how this affects our supporters and all those who follow football, for example.
Meeting with Uefa
On Thursday, the European Football Association (Uefa) - which has strongly criticised FIFA's plans - will have a meeting with the European federations.
We have an ongoing dialogue with UEFA on most international issues, including this one, and we are talking to many of the other federations. So we will participate in those conversations.
The way forward is to use FIFA's democratic process, where each national federation has one vote, according to Åström.
Then we try to coordinate within UEFA and together with other national associations. And the more you collaborate and the more people there are who speak with one voice, the stronger it is.
FIFA wants to know SvFF's position on the issue by September 19.
