Uefa’s extraordinary threat to boycott the World Cup over Fifa’s plans to sell off stakes in the tournament is significant news – but there is precedent for teams and continental bodies taking a stance against the competition.

European football’s governing power voted on Thursday to boycott World Cups over controversial proposals put forward by Fifa president Gianni Infantino to sell off stakes in football’s showpiece event.

Uefa has been joined by Concacaf, which governs football in North and Central America and hosted this year's World Cup – it said its 41 member associations "rejected" the proposal made by Infantino in another significant blow to the plans.

While a body as powerful as Uefa has not directly threatened such a step before, history contains a number of examples of nations and governing bodies skipping the World Cup for geopolitical or footballing reasons.

Uruguay, the inaugural World Cup winners in 1930, refused to defend their title four years later in protest at the lack of teams from Europe that had travelled to South America for that first tournament.

In 1938, they were joined by neighbouring nation Argentina, who had expected to host the tournament.

Turkey, Indonesia, Egypt and Sudan, meanwhile, all refused to play Israel in Asian qualifying for the 1958 World Cup, with Wales eventually beating the Israeli team in a one-off qualifier.

In October 1964, all 15 African teams withdrew from qualifying with the Confederation of African Football (Caf) feeling the one spot offered to its continent, Asia and Oceania to be unfair – particularly with 10 European nations making the 1966 tournament.

Eight years later, the Soviet Union refused to play the second leg of a qualifying play-off tie in Santiago following the 1973 Chilean coup d’etat that saw Augusto Pinochet take power. An XI of Chile players did take the field at the Estadio Nacional, with captain Francisco Valdés walking the ball into the net from kick off before a 2-0 win was awarded.

Iran‘s participation in this year’s World Cup looked to be in doubt after the United States and Israel launched airstrikes on the country in February. There were wider calls for a boycott, too, largely in relation to the US immigration policies under the presidency of Donald Trump.