The 55 member countries of Uefa – Europe’s governing body for football, whose teams are among the world’s best and tend to dominate international competitions, have drawn a line in the sand. On July 30, Uefa pledged to boycott all competitions run by Fifa, the sport’s global body, if a proposal to package up and sell interests in the World Cup to private investors went ahead.

A few hours later, Concacaf, the North American football confederation, also rejected the proposal. But how did it get to this? And what does this mean for football?

Let’s rewind to when the news broke that Fifa was looking to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors. Things moved fast from there. There was plenty of condemnation of the plan from many in the game, including fan groups, players unions, and leagues.

Football administrators, too, were swift to react: Concacaf were “deeply concerned by the lack of due process”. Uefa noted that “the soul and governance of football are not assets to trade – especially with zero transparency as to who gains financially”.

The AFC (Asian football confederation) lamented the lack of “sufficient information and adequate time to assess the proposal in full, including its governance, legal, commercial and strategic implications”.

The AFC’s point was particularly pertinent given the scale of Fifa’s proposal to create a new subsidiary, FIFA Forward Enterprise, to oversee commercial rights (broadcast, sponsorship, ticketing and licensing) and event operations – and then proceed to sell shares in this new entity to private investors.

The proposal openly linked this deal with........

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