Reason Behind UEFA and CONCACAF Nations Rejecting FIFA Transfer Proposal

Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) had already rioted against FIFA's proposal of selling a minority stake to a private entity, which would oversee the financial side of the upcoming World Cup events (both men's and women's). Now CONCACAF has voiced their opinions too regarding the issue.

To understand why UEFA rejected FIFA transfer proposal, one needs to realise that FIFA are trying to privatize one of the biggest footballing competitions in the world, which has raised grave concerns among the European member nations.

55 of the member nations, which consist of Germany, France, England, and the current champions Spain, have said that they would not participate in the upcoming World Cup events if the process happens.

Later in the day, the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) held their own meeting where the 41-member confederation also rejected the proposal. But what was the exact reason behind their decision? Sportsdunia takes a look at why CONCACAF rejected FIFA transfer proposal, which has now become an important issue for everyone involved.

Why CONCACAF Rejected FIFA Transfer Proposal?

Now that you have understood why UEFA rejected FIFA transfer proposal, let's get to why CONCACAF rejected FIFA transfer proposal. They have the same concern as UEFA, citing transparency reasons for the proposal tabled by FIFA.

Here's the FIFA transfer rules proposal explained for people who are unaware. FIFA announced that they were planning to sell a 21% stake to a private entity in the form of the FIFA Forward Entity (FFE), which would raise $20 billion in exchange for influencing future World Cups, including commercial and broadcasting rights.

The FIFA transfer policy controversy took a new twist when reports came out that the initiative is being backed by Joshua Kushner, who happens to be the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump.

It shows that Gianni Infantino has been trying to align FIFA around Trump and his people, evidence being the FIFA Peace Prize being handed out to him and the Folarin Balogun red card reversal incident in the recently concluded FIFA World Cup. Now he's on his way to lock in a 12-year ownership deal with Kushner's investment firm.

This proposal would trigger a staggering amount of $80 million, which would be rolled out to the 211 member associations of FIFA from now to 2037. Infantino previously said that the deadline for the proposal to be accepted by the associations was 19th September, with a majority vote needed to be the deciding factor.

CONCACAF, in its statement, revealed that the decision taken by FIFA didn't have due process, nor was there a transparency factor, and why a cash-rich body like FIFA needs external funding.

They further advised the FIFA Council Members to determine how the existing funds could be used to fund the FIFA Forward initiative to develop football across the region and to ask the FIFA President to follow due process with proper governance via staff and the FIFA Council, sticking strictly to the FIFA Statutes.

It remains to be seen how FIFA deals with the resistance of the prominent footballing bodies across continents, who strongly condemn the selling of a stake to a private entity. The question raised by them is quite valid: why does FIFA need to take this step following the most profitable World Cup in history to fund the new and existing FIFA Forward programs?

The Asian confederation (AFC) were the latest to join the bandwagon, where they expressed that they were disappointed by this act of FIFA, before even allowing for a proper discussion with the AFC family and getting to know about the details of this proposal only from media reports.