According to sports economist Thomas Peeters of Erasmus School of Economics, the UEFA’s criticism of FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s now-abandoned plan to sell commercial World Cup rights to private investors is not primarily about the commercialisation of football. Rather, he argues, it is about who controls the organisation of the World Cup.
‘I do not see UEFA as the white knight against big money,’ Peeters tells Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws. ‘UEFA’s objections are not about commercialisation, but about control of the World Cup. Who decides how it is organised and by whom? That is what UEFA wants to take more control over.’
Peeters therefore does not necessarily consider UEFA’s position hypocritical. The European football governing body wants to prevent the organisation of the World Cup, much like European club football in the past, from falling into the hands of external investors.
At the same time, Peeters sees scope for a different approach to the commercial organisation of major football tournaments. ‘FIFA and UEFA could establish a framework for what a World Cup or Champions League should look like and then invite private parties to bid to organise it,’ he argues.
According to Peeters, separating regulation from organisation could contribute to better governance. Football’s governing bodies would become less dependent on the commercial success of their own tournaments. However, he strongly criticises FIFA’s approach: he says that seeking to place shares with favoured individuals without sufficient transparency is ‘of course wrong’.
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For questions, please contact Ronald de Groot, Media & Public Relations Officer at Erasmus School of Economics: rdegroot@ese.eur.nl, +316 53 641 846.
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