South America’s governing body, CONMEBOL, has sparked anger on social media with its statement reacting to Gianni Infantino’s controversial plan to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors.

FIFA revealed earlier this week that they intended to raise hundreds of millions of dollars by selling a significant stake in the commercial rights of the men’s and women’s World Cups, and the Club World Cup, to investors.

They said that if the deal went through, they would distribute ‘over $10bn’ (£7.5bn) to FIFA’s 211 member associations.

The proposal did not go down well at all. UEFA released a strong statement on behalf of all 55 of its members saying that it would boycott the World Cup should the deal materialise.

CONCACAF [The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football] also expressed their opposition to the proposal, as did the AFC [Asian Football Confederation].

With great opposition and a lack of support, FIFA have now made a U-turn and scrapped their plans.

CONMEBOL’s Statement Causes a Stir

REUTERS/Henry Romero

Just hours before FIFA officially scrapped the deal, CONMEBOL made their stance regarding the proposal clear. They didn’t express their opposition like UEFA, CONCACAF and the AFC have done, and instead decided to sit on the fence. Their statement read:

“Conmebol reaffirms that its priority will always be football: its values, its people and the passion that makes it the most popular sport in the world. We understand that the development of football requires commercial and financial decisions.

“However, these decisions must always be at the service of football and never above its essence. Football always comes first.

“Since Conmebol became aware of the proposal presented by Fifa in relation to the FFE project, and in compliance with its institutional procedures, it began a process of consultations with its Member Associations and convened a meeting of its Council with the sole purpose of analysing and evaluating said proposal with the responsibility and rigour that the issue requires.

“Conmebol will continue to act with prudence, responsibility and a spirit of collaboration, contributing to the strengthening of world football exclusively through institutional channels and the principles of good governance.

“Conmebol calls for the unity of the entire football family and to always put football before any other interest.”

Their failiure to condemn the proposal hasn’t gone down well on Reddit. One fan said: “Weak statement, they clearly want to find a middle ground and may have gone along with it without the strength of UEFA’s statement,” while another commented: “Utterly disappointing….but I’m not surprised.”

Fans on X also reacted badly. One said: “Shame on you CONMEBOL,” while a second stated: “Extremely disappointed in them.” A third wrote: “What a weak FA.”

Gianni Infantino Scraps World Cup Proposal

REUTERS/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake

In a statement, FIFA president Infantino said the deal was designed to ‘strengthen our sport worldwide’, but the proposal has now been scrapped due to it ‘creating divisions that are no longer in the interest of our objective.

Their statement read: “The FIFA Forward Enterprise project was intended to provide a basis for further strengthening our FIFA Member Associations and our sport worldwide, especially in those countries where support is most needed. And more so, as we said from the outset, to do this only if a majority of the FIFA Member Associations were in support and always subject to a consultation process with them, the FIFA Council, the Confederations and wider stakeholders.

“Having listened carefully to all the views, it has become clear that the project has created divisions of a nature that, regardless of the level of support, are no longer in the interest of the objective set out in the first place.

“Our purpose has always been – and will always be – to unite and improve. As a result, this proposal will not proceed.

“Moving forward, my intent is to bring all interested parties back together in the coming days and weeks in the spirit of shared interest in our game, and with the objective to continue growing football everywhere, particularly in those countries that mostly need our support.”

The 2026/27 Premier League season is just a few weeks away and excitement for the new campaign is building. Arsenal go into the new campaign as the reigning champions and are the favourites to retain their title.

Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea, all under new management, will have title aspirations of their own, as will Manchester United, who have given Michael Carrick the reigns on a permanent basis after their impressive campaign last time out.

Elsewhere, newly-promoted trio Coventry City, Ipswich Town and Hull City will all hope they have enough quality to survive the drop and avoid dropping back to the second tier.

The 20 clubs that will compete in the Premier League in 2026/27 have now released the shirts they will wear and, ahead of the new campaign, the Sun have revealed how much each side is charging for an adult jersey. Eight of them are charging more than they did last season.

Sunderland and Crystal Palace’s 2026/27 Shirts Among Cheapest in the Premier League (20-11)

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Hull City, who defied the odds to earn promotion to the Premier League last season, charge £64 for their adult jersey, the lowest of all 20 clubs. They have hiked their price up by £5, though.

Ipswich Town, who finished second in the Championship last campaign to earn their place in the Premier League, have increased their adult shirt price by £6. They now charge £65, the same as Crystal Palace and Brentford.

Brentford are the only team in the Premier League this season that have not released a new shirt this season. Every shirt they release has a two-year cycle to keep them affordable.

Four clubs charge £70: Sunderland, Coventry City, Brighton & Hove Albion and Bournemouth. The Cherries, who will compete in the Europa League this season, have increased their adult shirt price by £5. Sunderland, after finishing seventh last season, have increased their prices by £10, as have Championship winners Coventry.

Leeds United and Nottingham Forest both charge £75 for their 2026/27 shirt. Leeds’ jersey costs £5 more than it did last season.

Tottenham and Chelsea’s 2026/27 Shirts the Most Expensive in the Premier League (10-1)

Action Images via Reuters/Lee Smith

Everton’s new shirt costs adults £80. The Toffees will be looking for a better season this time round after finishing in a disappointing 13th last campaign.

Seven clubs are charging £85: Newcastle United, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Fulham, Aston Villa and Arsenal. None of those clubs have increased their prices, including Arsenal, despite ending their 22-year Premier League trophy drought last campaign.

Chelsea endured a dismal 2025/26 season. They ended the campaign in 10th as they missed out on European football altogether. Despite that disappointment, they have hiked their prices up by £5 to £89.99.

Only one club in the Premier League charges more for their adult shirt than Chelsea: Tottenham Hotspur. Like the Blues, Spurs had a terrible 2025/26 campaign, only avoiding relegation on the final day of the campaign. Their shirt this season has been priced at £90, £5 more than it cost last season.

In August 2003, an 18-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo recognised the magnitude of the opportunity in front of him.

Manchester United arrived in Portugal off the back of four consecutive pre-season friendly victories, with Juventus and Barcelona among their conquests. The Premier League champions were riding high, likely confident of a successful title defence with the new season just weeks away.

And for all intents and purposes, their next fixture against Sporting CP seemed like another formality. But rather than laying out the red carpet, the young Ronaldo was clearly making his case for a red jersey of his own.

Teenage Prodigy in Demand

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Despite making an impression on Sir Alex Ferguson and the Manchester United squad, Ronaldo was no stranger to the scouting network of European football.

The teenage prodigy was a couple of weeks away from making his senior international debut for Portugal and during the previous November, Arsenal had already attempted to court the Sporting star. After scoring twice on his Sporting CP debut, CR7 was invited to Arsenal’s London Colney training ground for three days.

Despite already gaining a reputation with Premier League sides and on the international scene, it was the 2003 friendly against Manchester United that truly introduced Cristiano Ronaldo to the wider footballing world.

How Ronaldo ‘Roasted’ O’Shea & Stunned Man Utd Stars

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With the Premier League champions visiting, Sporting’s Estadio Jose Alvalade was packed to the rafters. But it wasn’t the Red Devils that were grabbing the crowd’s attention; it was Sporting’s young winger. Treating the crowd to his now trademark stepovers, Ronaldo’s quality was evident to United’s decorated coterie of stars.

Future teammate Gary Neville hadn’t travelled for the game and was instead watching from home — and for once he was glad to not be on the team sheet. The established John O’Shea was playing at right back and tasked with subduing the Portuguese winger. O’Shea was a key player in the United side, having featured 32 times during their previous league-winning campaign. But Ronaldo made the future Republic of Ireland captain look like an amateur during the friendly.

Neville recalled being shocked by the trickiness of Ronaldo. “I thought ‘bloody hell’,” said Neville, as he recalled the ordeal that O’Shea suffered through in his failed attempts to stop the young winger. Ryan Giggs, who was watching from the bench, was less sympathetic towards the Irishman.

“You see Ronaldo get the ball, and you see him turn John O’Shea inside out, and you’re having a little giggle to yourself,” recalled Giggs. That dominant first half clearly made an impression on the United players. Rio Ferdinand felt concerned for O’Shea, claiming that he was “sitting there like he needed some oxygen.”

United captain Roy Keane took this further, revisiting the episode in his autobiography. “‘Sheasy’ ended up seeing the doctor at half time because he was actually having dizzy spells,” wrote Keane. O’Shea, who was taken off after 52 minutes and replaced by Mark Lynch, has since stated that the dizzy spells were overexaggerated, but he did concede that Ronaldo gave him “a roasting.”

Sporting CP eventually ran out 3–1 winners, with Felipe Luis and a brace from João Pinto providing the goals. Ronaldo may have failed to get on the scoresheet, but he was the name on everyone’s lips after the final whistle blew.

Sporting 3-1 Man Utd (August 6, 2003)

‘What Are We Waiting For?’ – Transfer to Man Utd

Action Images / Alex Morton

Ryan Giggs recalled the excitement around Ronaldo after the Sporting defeat. “All the lads were talking to him after the game and I remember we were waiting on the coach and everybody was wondering what we were waiting for. And then we just got a little whisper that the deal was being done.”

Less than a week after his impressive performance, Ronaldo was officially announced as a Manchester United player. The 18-year-old signed for £12 million, an English transfer record for a teenager at the time.

Speaking about the transfer, Sir Alex Ferguson revealed that the transfer wasn’t a knee-jerk reaction to Ronaldo’s star turn in the friendly. But he did admit that interest from other big teams did force United to move quickly to seal the deal. “We’ve been negotiating for Cristiano for quite some time,” confirmed Ferguson. “Sporting honoured our agreement of months ago.”

But the reaction of his players after the friendly told an even bigger story of how special Ronaldo truly was. “The lads in the dressing room talked about him constantly,” recalled Ferguson. “And on the plane back they urged me to sign him — that’s how highly they rated him. He is one of the most exciting young players I’ve ever seen.”

Legacy

Action Images / Michael Regan

Ronaldo was given the famous number seven jersey by Ferguson — a number previously worn by George Best, Eric Cantona, and David Beckham.

After establishing himself as a key player, Ronaldo helped United to win three consecutive Premier League titles, the 2007-08 Champions League, and the 2008 FIFA Club World Cup.

Ronaldo won his first Ballon d’Or as a United player, aged just 23, before sealing a move to Real Madrid in 2009. The £80 million transfer was the most expensive transfer in history at the time.