Why women's football is first casualty of Fifa plans

Women's football will be the first to suffer if Fifa president Gianni Infantino's plan to sell stakes in competitions to private investors goes ahead, according to former England defender Anita Asante.

On Thursday European football's 55 member associations voted to boycott all Fifa competitions until the governing body drops Infantino's proposals.

Uefa's stance will first be tested when the Fifa Under-20 Women's World Cup starts on 5 September in Poland.

"The first casualties will be women's football tournaments," Asante told BBC Sport.

"I don't think Fifa have considered the implications of their decision."

The Polish Football Association (PZPN) said on Friday it has not received any information about teams withdrawing from the competition and preparations are continuing as planned.

In October, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales all have qualifiers for next summer's Women's World Cup in Brazil.

And the Under-17 Women's World Cup is scheduled to take place in October in Morocco.

"That's what's so frustrating for players. You can't take for granted the opportunity to play in the World Cup," said Asante.

"If this isn't resolved by the time of England's qualifiers, then the impact could be huge and it is already a busy schedule."

In response to Uefa's boycott, Fifa said on Friday "nobody is selling football" and claimed the consultation process has been "disrupted by incorrect media reports".

Concacaf, which governs football in North and Central America and hosted this year's World Cup, said its 41 member associations have "rejected" Fifa's proposal.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has published a statement saying it "stands in solidarity" with its counterparts in Europe and North, Central America and the Caribbean.

Meanwhile, Carlos Cordeiro, a senior adviser to Fifa chief Gianni Infantino, resigned from his position, saying the proposal was "a bad deal for football" and would "mortgage football's future".

"I was really pleased to see that Uefa had taken the position that they have, and they were very clear with their directive and firm about how they want this to go," added Asante.

"It's taking away what the essence of football is about and tournaments are about. Women could be the casualties here yet again."

Former FA director of women's football Baroness Sue Campbell said it was "tragic" women's football could be first to be impacted.

Speaking to BBC Sport's Jo Currie she said: "I think it's a real shame, but equally, I'm absolutely supportive of them [the regional federations] standing up for what they believe is right for the sport.

"I'm a great believer sport must be pure - it doesn't mean I don't think commercial investment isn't important, it's massively important, but it mustn't take over the game."

Fifa and Infantino want to create a commercial subsidiary to run its main events, including its World Cups, and external investors will be able to buy stakes in it.

It said it would "invite third parties to make minority, non-controlling investments" in a new subsidiary - Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE).

Infantino has set a deadline of 19 September for football federations to accept his controversial plans.

In a 25-page document created by investment bank JP Morgan, it is made clear Fifa's tournaments would expand to hit an estimated increased pay-out of 24m euros per member association in the 2035-2039 cycle.

It mentions "new business initiatives" and "attracting top talent with incentive-driven compensation".

The World Cup is described in it as the "most widely viewed" sporting event but Fifa, by contrast, is said to be "under-monetised".

There is no mention in the document of the women's game.

If approval is granted, Fifa says Thrive Eternal is expected to lead the proposed investor group for FFE.

Thrive is an American venture capital firm founded by Joshua Kushner - the brother of US President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared.