Nearly All of Europe Vow to Boycott World Cup Over Plan for Kushner Family Sale
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Europe’s soccer league, which encompasses nearly every country in the continent, has vowed a boycott of the World Cup and other FIFA events if the organization moves forward with its plan to sell a large minor stake of the global competition to the Kushner family.
On Tuesday, FIFA announced a plan to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors, and told members that the plan needed to be approved by September 19. Under the plan, the private investment group would be led by Thrive Eternal, a firm founded and run by Joshua Kushner, the brother of President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and top adviser Jared Kushner. The initial valuation of the enterprise, which would still be controlled by FIFA at the beginning, is $20 billion, FIFA said.
The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), which includes 55 countries, announced on Thursday that it has voted to boycott FIFA-run competitions until “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.” This boycott would come to consequence soon, with the women’s World Cup next year.
The group also said that the plan is anti-democratic, formed in secret and presenting an “ultimatum” to coerce football teams to agree to sell off the World Cup.
“The World Cup cannot be treated as an investment product. It........
