UEFA aren’t the good guys in FIFA’s failed World Cup sell-off as locked-away blueprint proves

['Richard Buxton', 'Layer Van-Ds .Vds-Author Font-Size Var --Text-Base', 'Font-Size Var --Vds-Author-Font-Size', 'Var --Text-Base', 'Line-Height Var --Text-Base--Line-Height', 'Line-Height Var --Vds-Author-Line-Height', 'Var --Text-Base--Line-Height', 'Letter-Spacing Var --Tracking-Normal', 'Letter-Spacing Var --Vds-Author-Letter-Spacing', 'Var --Tracking-Normal'] Latest from FourFourTwo 2026-08-10 08:00:00

The battle of the World Cup sell-off plot may be over but the war is only just beginning. FIFA’s embarrassing climbdown over the landgrab hatched by its president Gianni Infantino to auction off stakes in its various competitions, including the World Cup, to private investors unified football in outright condemnation of the brazen proposal. Infantino’s 2016 defection saw FIFA aggressively manoeuvre itself to outstrip the Champions League as the highest-grossing tournament. The latest example saw UEFA assign refereeing duties for this month's Super Cup to Omar Artan, the Somali official who was denied entry to the World Cup by the Trump administration. If he succeeds, the accusations of a ‘UEFA Mafia’ regularly aired by supporters will no longer be without foundation.