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England could still boycott World Cup despite Gianni Infantino axing controversial plan The Three Lions could still be forced to sit out the next World Cup. England could still boycott the 2030 World Cup, as well as other FIFA competitions, despite Gianni Infantino performing a U-turn on the controversial private investment plans. The FIFA president came under heavy criticism for plans to sell off stakes in the World Cup and other FIFA competitions to private equity firms. UEFA were front and centre of the pushback against the plans, which were eventually scrapped by Infantino, with the European governing body going one further and declaring a lack of confidence in the Swiss-Italian. The English FA were among those to withdraw their support for him ahead of the 2027 FIFA presidential election, with suggestions an alternative candidate could stand against him. It comes after all 55 UEFA nations had unanimously agreed to boycott future FIFA tournaments until the private equity plans were scrapped. However, the FIFA U-turn doesn’t look like it will be enough to satisfy the UEFA bigwigs, with talk of pushing through with the planned boycott. In a statement relayed to Sky News, a UEFA spokesperson said: “UEFA’s associations were very clear about the conditions attached to the non-participation in FIFA competitions. First, the proposals to sell off the major competitions had to be withdrawn, and secondly, assurances have to be made that such attempts to disfigure the game in this way will never be made again. “These conditions have not been met. In addition, UEFA made it abundantly clear in its statement on Saturday that it has lost confidence in Gianni Infantino's presidency. That position holds. Yesterday's announcement that some people employed by the FIFA President (and whose careers depend on his favour) agree with him changes nothing.” Infantino and his close allies opted to stare down the barrel of the gun this week when threatened by resignation calls. However, in typical fashion, the FIFA president doubled down on his premiership and urged the football world to move on past the saga. In a joint statement with FIFA secretary general, Mattias Grafstrom, Infantino said: "We acknowledge mistakes were made in the process of the proposed establishment of FFE. It was certainly not the intention for the FIFA Council and FIFA Member Associations to feel excluded from the process and it should have been handled differently. "We acknowledge that errors were also made after the proposal was leaked to media. We sincerely apologise for these errors and commit to them not happening again. With this in mind, we will conduct a necessary review, and a report will be presented to the FIFA Council at its next scheduled meeting."