European soccer governing body UEFA has voted to boycott the World Cup to protest plans by global organization FIFA to sell off stakes in the tournament to private investors. Three of the four semi-finalists of this year’s men’s World Cup were from Europe, including 2026 champion Spain. A World Cup without Europe would be a far more modest, and commercially far less successful event. The FIFA World Cup belongs to football. FIFA is coming off its largest, and most commercially successful, World Cup in its history.