Lucy Bronze backs Uefa’s stance on boycotting Fifa for ‘good of the game’

Lucy Bronze has backed Uefa’s stance on boycotting all Fifa competitions for the “good of the game” and to safeguard football for future generations.

On Thursday Europe’s governing body doubled down on its threat – including next summer’s Women’s World Cup – amid the furore surrounding the Fifa president Gianni Infantino and his shelved plan for a privately funded Fifa Forward Enterprise scheme.

“The message that we stand by … is ‘for the good of the game’. The players who play in those competitions, the European players, we stand by our beliefs and what the right thing is for our game,” the 34-year-old Chelsea and England right-back said.

Bronze was speaking before Saturday’s pre-season friendly against Auckland FC at Eden Park. She was responding to a question by the New Zealand Herald whether it would be disappointing not to play in Fifa competitions.

She added: “If that means boycotting competitions, then that has to happen. It’s for the future of the game and not just for me today and tomorrow, it’s for all the little girls or little boys who come after us to make sure that they’re in a good place, when the game is moving forward in decades to come, not just tomorrow.”

Next summer’s tournament in Brazil could be the England defender’s fourth senior World Cup. The Lionesses have reached at least the semi-finals of her previous three. Her first global competition coincidentally came in New Zealand, when she helped England reach the semi-finals of the 2008 Under-17 Women’s World Cup.

Uefa’s threat of a boycott could have an impact on September’s Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Poland which is set to get under way in under a month’s time, with England due to line up in Group B alongside Brazil, Canada and Tanzania.

Meanwhile, Channel 4 has confirmed it will air the knockout stages of the Women’s African Cup of Nations live, with the quarter-finals and semi-finals to be streamed on its YouTube channel. The final to be shown live on E4. It will mark the first time that a UK broadcaster has shown the tournament live.

Elsewhere, the Football Association has appointed Sian Massey-Ellis as its new senior manager for women referees. Massey-Ellis became only the second woman to join the Premier League officials list in 2010 and has officiated at 150 top-flight matches, as well as five Women’s FA Cup finals. She was first female to officiate in a men’s FA Cup final.