UEFA, headed by Aleksander Ceferin, have hit back at the International Federation of Football with a statement of their own. Nothing has changed, they insist, over the boycott of FIFA-organised tournaments, nor over their stance on International Federation president Gianni Infantino.
AS newspaper reported: "Following the meeting held by FIFA in Rabat, and the explanatory letter it subsequently sent to the 211 national federations, UEFA confirmed its adherence to its position of not allowing European national teams to take part in the tournaments organised by FIFA, because the conditions required to lift this ban had not been met."
Ceferin's institution reiterated its current position in a memo sent to AS.
UEFA said: "The UEFA federations were clear about the conditions for not participating in FIFA competitions. Firstly, the proposals aimed at privatising the main tournaments had to be withdrawn, and secondly, guarantees had to be provided that such attempts to distort the game would never be repeated again."
The statement continued: "These conditions have not been met. In addition, UEFA made it unequivocally clear in its statement issued on Saturday that it had lost confidence in Infantino's presidency. This position still stands. As for yesterday's announcement, which states that some people working for the FIFA president (whose careers depend on his approval) support him, it changes nothing."