OSLO, July 31 (Reuters) - FIFA's proposal to sell a stake in the World Cup has provoked a "very serious situation" for the game, Norwegian Football Federation president Lise Klaveness said on Friday.
“This is a very serious situation for Norwegian and international football. It is very dramatic,” Klaveness told reporters after UEFA member associations raised objections in a meeting.
UEFA and its 55 member nations voted on Thursday to boycott all FIFA tournaments in protest at the global governing body's plan to create a $20-billion subsidiary, FIFA Forward Enterprise, to run the World Cup and its other events, with a stake of up to 20% to be offered to external investors.
Klaveness praised the strong pushback against the proposals, which critics have labelled anti-democratic and driven by external financial interests.
“Everyone who spoke said it was unacceptable. The word ‘blackmail’ was used. Not by us, but by others.
"Bringing external owners into football’s core business is an alien element, and it should remain an alien element."
She said the news had come as a complete surprise to almost everyone involved.
“We had heard nothing about this; it turned out that very few had. This created major friction, with a huge volume of calls and movement across the whole football world,” she said, praising UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin's handling of the situation.
“He showed refreshingly clear leadership and was firm that enough is enough, that this is not a democratic process, that this is not a project we want, and that football should be owned by its members and run democratically.”
Klaveness said of FIFA President Gianni Infantino: "My clear impression now is that he has lost a great deal of trust.
"We did not vote for him last time, and we have been sceptical about this. There is a lot that is good about FIFA but if you take a casual approach to governance principles and rules, you quickly lose trust.”
(Reporting by Tommy Lund in Gdansk; editing by Clare Fallon)
