Gianni Infantino warned to ‘seriously backtrack’ to avoid football ‘civil war’ after UEFA World Cup boycott

Gianni Infantino warned to ‘seriously backtrack’ to avoid football ‘civil war’ after UEFA World Cup boycott

Fifa president Gianni Infantino has warned he may have to “seriously backtrack” after UEFA threatened to boycott the World Cup over the governing body's proposed sell-off plans. Speaking to GB News, Football writer Chris Skudder warned that the beautiful game could be at risk of “civil war” if the issue was not resolved. He described Europe’s response, which will see England and other European nations miss the upcoming 2030 tournament, as “unequivocal”. Mr Skudder warned that the prospect of a World Cup without Europe's biggest footballing nations would be “pretty unpalatable”. TRENDING Stories Videos Your Say “It looks as though Infantino is going to have to do some serious backtracking here,” he said. The football writer noted that while Uefa’s 55 member associations account for only a quarter of FIFA's 211 voting nations, they represent many of world football's biggest powers, including England, Spain, Germany and France. “The prospect of FIFA going into a World Cup without Spain and France and England and Germany and all the big-hitting nations is pretty unpalatable,” he said. He warned football could be heading towards a “civil war”, describing the dispute as “money versus quality”. “Gianni Infantino, as we've seen, appears to be seduced by money and power,” Mr Skudder claimed. “If this were to go ahead and a company called FIFA Forward Enterprise would have come into being, he would stand to make an awful lot of money.” Mr Skudder acknowledged that the proposals could give smaller nations “a place at the table”. “There's a power struggle here that the power point in the world game is with Europe financially without any shadow of a doubt. LATEST DEVELOPMENTS Future of football World Cup plunged into chaos as Uefa announces plan to boycott tournament FIFA's £3.1bn World Cup plan faces fresh backlash as secret October deadline set FIFA World Cup scandal takes fresh twist as European chiefs identify Gianni Infantino rival However, he wa