Europe’s leading clubs warned they could boycott the women’s and men’s 2028 and 2029 Club World Cups unless FIFA set up a fully operational joint venture with European Football Clubs (EFC) before rights for the 2028 Women’s Club World Cup are sold. The threat, reported by The Guardian, was delivered in a July 31 letter to FIFA Secretary General Mattias Grafstrom and came shortly before FIFA President Gianni Infantino abandoned the privately backed Football Forward Enterprise on Aug. 1 after criticism. EFC chief executive Charlie Marshall said FIFA’s conduct could amount to a “substantial breach” of the parties’ memorandum of understanding, while the group also raised the prospect of challenging the international match calendar and player release rules. The dispute centers on control of broadcasting, commercial and sponsorship rights, which EFC said should sit with a FIFA-EFC joint venture rather than the scrapped scheme. The group also pressed FIFA for greater financial transparency, including the final surplus revenue from the 2025 Fifa WC and a full profit and loss statement, and criticized delays in distributing £185 million ($250 million) in solidarity payments (money shared with non-participating clubs).