European football's governing body, UEFA, called a Thursday afternoon meeting of its 55 members to discuss a response to FIFA's plans to create a new commercial subsidiary valued at $20 billion (roughly €17.5 billion) and sell a non-controlling minority stake in it to investors.
In the meeting, the members voted unanimously to boycott FIFA competitions in protest of the plan.
"No UEFA national teams will participate in any FIFA competition for so long as these proposals remain alive, unless this proposal has been abandoned in its entirety and binding assurances have been given that FIFA will never again open its governance or competitions to private ownership," UEFA said in a statement.
"The World Cup cannot be treated as an investment product... No part of it should ever be surrendered to private investors. The World Cup is not for sale," the statement added.
UEFA swiftly rejected FIFA's proposal
