FIFA President Gianni Infantino has announced the withdrawal of the controversial project to sell commercial rights to the World Cup, reports infohub.kz citing Sky News.
Earlier, FIFA had devised a plan to sell the rights to organize the men's, women's, and club World Cups to private investors. In response, all members of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) declared a boycott of FIFA tournaments until the initiative was completely scrapped. The confederations of the Americas and Asia backed UEFA's position, also accusing FIFA of a lack of transparency in drawing up the new commercial concept.
"After carefully considering all views, it became clear that the project had given rise to disagreements of such a nature that, regardless of the level of support, they no longer served the interests of the original goal. Our goal has always been and will always be to unite and improve. As a result, this proposal will not be adopted," Infantino said.
The FIFA chief stressed that in the coming weeks he intends to hold further consultations with all interested parties. He said he continues to pursue the goal of "further developing football everywhere, and especially in those countries that most need our support."
Against the backdrop of the scandal, it emerged that an adviser to the FIFA president had been dismissed in protest. UEFA, for its part, has developed a plan to stage its own version of the World Cup.