Federations of 13 participants of the World Cup criticized the head of UEFA

The federations of 13 national football teams have criticized UEFA President Alexander Ceferin after his statements that an expanded World Cup would lead to "uninteresting" matches. The text of the statement on June 14 is quoted by journalist Ben Jacobs on his page on the social network X (ex. Twitter).

In a joint statement, Cape Verde, Curacao, Uzbekistan, Congo, Haiti, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Ghana, Senegal, South Africa and Côte d'Ivoire expressed "deep disappointment" with the recent comments by the head of UEFA.

"There is no such thing as an unimportant World Cup match for our countries. For Cape Verde, Curaçao and Uzbekistan, qualifying for the World Cup represents a historic achievement and the fulfillment of a dream shared by generations," the statement said.

The federations emphasized that football does not belong to a select group of countries, and its strength lies in universality. Every team that entered the tournament has earned this place on a sporting basis, and every match is important to millions of people around the world.

On the eve of the 1982 world champion of the Italian national team, Marco Tardelli, said that the joke of the president of the International Football Federation (FIFA), Gianni Infantino, about the failure of the Italian national team to qualify for the World Cup was disrespectful. Tardelli added that Infantino has been making "more and more mistakes" lately.