Thirteen football federations have jointly criticized UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin for his comments on the expanded World Cup format.
The statement emphasized that no match in the World Cup is insignificant. For Cape Verde, Curaçao, and Uzbekistan, qualifying for the World Cup is a historic achievement.
For the Democratic Republic of Congo and Haiti, returning to football's biggest stage after a long break holds special importance. The statement said that suggestions of these games being less important cause great disappointment and disregard the efforts of players, coaches, clubs, and fans worldwide.
The letter was signed by federations from Cape Verde, Curaçao, Uzbekistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Ghana, Senegal, South Africa, and Côte d'Ivoire.
Ceferin had previously stated that the expanded format would be uninteresting due to the large gap in team levels.
