UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has issued a pointed warning to FIFA counterpart Gianni Infantino, urging him not to forget his European origins after branding his now-abandoned plan to sell a stake in the World Cup as more damaging to football than the failed European Super League project.
Earlier this month, FIFA scrapped Infantino's proposal to establish a new company, FIFA Forward Enterprise, which would have overseen the commercial and ticketing rights for all FIFA competitions. Under the plan, 21% of the venture was set to be sold to a private investment firm. UEFA spearheaded resistance to the idea, with its member associations threatening to boycott future World Cups if the scheme went ahead. The governing body has since declared it no longer has confidence in Infantino, a stance echoed by the football associations of all four British home nations, who have also withdrawn their backing for the Swiss official.
Speaking on The Rest is Politics podcast, Ceferin did not hold back in his criticism. "I think this plan is even worse than the Super League plan," he said. "Super important clubs wanted to do their own league, which is wrong, and would destroy football. But in this case, football would be literally sold. I'm absolutely sure that the plan is dead. It's hard to imagine what kind of people would sell the sport that belongs to everyone. We will not allow that to happen."
The Super League, a proposed breakaway competition featuring 20 of Europe's leading clubs, collapsed within days of its announcement in April 2021 following fierce public and institutional backlash.
Ceferin revealed that UEFA had received no advance notice of Infantino's commercial plan and instead learned of it through media reports while on a family holiday. "He didn't contact me since this happened," Ceferin said, adding that FIFA had painted Europe as acting arrogantly. "They play on, you know, 'how arrogant Europe is against us: They have enough money, but I help the small and the poor.' But I think someone should remind him that he is a European, and that he was supported by UEFA, which he forgot."
Infantino, who spent 16 years working at UEFA including nine as general secretary, has since embarked on a global tour seeking support for his position. He met with Caribbean Football Union representatives in the Dominican Republic over the weekend before attending the E-Sports World Cup in Paris, an event also attended by French President Emmanuel Macron, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo.
Asked about his own ambitions, Ceferin confirmed he has no intention of standing for the FIFA presidency at the 2027 Congress, when Infantino is expected to pursue a fourth term. "I'm not interested because of two reasons. One reason is that I love UEFA and I love working here, and I think that at a certain point it's time also to enjoy life a bit," the 58-year-old Slovenian explained. "And the second point is, my credibility is much, much, much higher if I'm not interested in the position."
The controversy surrounding the commercial plan follows earlier scrutiny of Infantino's ties to US President Donald Trump. That relationship came under fire after American forward Folarin Balogun had a red-card suspension lifted, allowing him to feature in the USA's last-16 defeat by Belgium at this summer's World Cup. Trump later claimed he had personally phoned Infantino to request the decision be reversed, and more recently described any move to oust Infantino as FIFA president as a "terrible mistake."
Reflecting on the Balogun episode, Ceferin said: "That was more than shocking. We have rules, and if you don't respect your own rules, then the game doesn't make any sense. The president of a country says: 'I called him, and I told him to look at it.' And then the FIFA president says it was an independent decision. I mean, for us as football fans, or for us as a governing body, that's shocking. That's shocking, and - trust me - almost everybody was shocked. Just not everybody dared to speak."
Based on reporting from BBC Sport.