BRUSSELS, July 31. /TASS/. A decision made by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) to boycott tournaments sponsored by the world’s governing football body, FIFA, has nothing to do with the sport of football, but is related to rules of the organization's activities, Council of Europe Secretary-General Alain Berset said on Friday.

"It is not a football story. It is a story about rules. Who writes them. Whether they are applied. And who may change them," Berset told Politico.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino announced a proposal on July 30 to sell a share of the FIFA World Cup commercial rights to private investors under a scheme that could potentially bring it tens of millions of dollars. The plan involves the establishment of a company that will control the major men's and women's FIFA tournaments - the FIFA World Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup. The organization consulted with people close to the administration of US President Donald Trump prior to voicing this decision.

The European governing body of football, UEFA, later responded that 55 member-states of the organization voted to boycott all football tournaments sponsored by FIFA. The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) also rejected Infantino’s proposal.