The president of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick, has called on his UEFA counterpart, Aleksander Ceferin to apologise for suggesting European countries could boycott the World Cup if FIFA’s proposals to shorten the gap between tournaments to two years are adopted.
Pinnick reminded Ceferin that just under six months ago, UEFA relied on a number of organisations within the football world to support it in the face of the Super League breakaway threat.
“The Super League idea was thrown away because of solidarity, and that is the kind of solidarity we are requesting right now from UEFA. Now, he believes Europe should ‘show leadership’ and support the changes being proposed in order to help develop the game worldwide.”
Pinnick told the PA news agency: “If you look at what happened, why couldn’t Juventus, AC Milan, Arsenal Manchester City form their own league? Solidarity.
“The idea was thrown away because of solidarity, and that is the kind of solidarity we are requesting right now from UEFA.
“UEFA is strong, but what is solidarity? Solidarity is holding up the weaker one, and helping him get to a level he never expected to get to.
“Everyone will benefit from the FIFA proposals. We recognise UEFA’s strength, and now we are calling on them to show solidarity to the world, to show leadership, to say ‘this is right, we want to do it’.
On Ceferin’s remarks around a possible boycott in The Times earlier this month, Pinnick said: “That comment deserves an apology from Ceferin. For him to say that is not only discriminatory, it is quite condemnable.
“Ceferin is a lovely guy, we have mutual respect and I like what he has done in UEFA, but there are other continents that need some kind of breather in terms of football development.”
Pinnick will join representatives from associations all over the world in further consultation over the calendar plans at a virtual summit on Thursday.
Increased revenue for FIFA’s member associations is clearly one of the drivers of the proposals. Pinnick believes a biennial World Cup would “treble or double” the money paid out to associations.
Follow The Eagle Online Channel on WhatsApp
