Football associations from 13 nations slam UEFA president over World Cup remarks

A coalition of 13 football associations issued a sharp rebuke on Sunday of UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin, following his alleged comments characterizing many expanded FIFA World Cup matches as uninteresting.

"We respectfully but firmly reject these comments. For our countries, there is no such thing as an unimportant World Cup match," the joint statement declared.

The nations, Cape Verde, Curacao, Uzbekistan, Congo, Haiti, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Ghana, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire and South Africa, said such remarks fail to recognize the "aspirations of players" and the "years of work and investment" required for qualification.

The associations emphasized that the tournament represents a "historic achievement" for debutants like Uzbekistan and Curacao, and "carries a special meaning" for returning nations such as Congo and Haiti. They asserted that football's strength lies in its universality rather than a "select group of nations."

"Every nation that qualifies deserves respect. Every team has earned its place on merit," the statement said, urging the global community to protect the game's inclusive nature.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup, co-hosted by Canada, Mexico, and the US, is hosting the largest-ever tournament in history, with 48 countries participating.

Slovenia's Zurnal 24 quoted Ceferin as saying at a conference in Ljubljana that he believes that such expansion was not good for football because "we have a lot of matches that are completely uninteresting." "On the other hand, even small countries can participate and feel the pulse of the World Cup, which is a big deal," he said.

A push to expand the men's 2030 World Cup to 64 teams is "a bad idea," Ceferin said in April. "It is not a good idea for the World Cup itself, and it's not a good idea for our qualifiers as well."

UEFA did not immediately react to the associations' criticism.