September 25: European football chief Aleksander Ceferin has pointed out that confidence in the world game has not been restored after plans to privatize the World Cup were abandoned.
In a video address recorded at the Portugal Football Summit, Ceferin said: “Trust in our sport is based on three pillars: unity, transparency and governance that serves the many, not the few. In recent times, all three have been ignored by people sworn to protect them.
“The project that broke the unity of world football may be abolished, but the trust it broke has not returned, and repairing it is our job now.”
“But not everyone puts the game ahead of their own ambitions.”
Ceferin did not mention Infantino by name, but it is the first time he has spoken publicly since Gianni Infantino’s FFE debacle: the plan to sell a stake in the World Cup to a new private equity-backed company, FIFA Forward Enterprise.
The leaked plans after the 2026 World Cup, which generated $16 billion, should largely benefit FIFA’s member associations, essentially FIFA’s owners. But the FIFA boss overstepped his remit by offering a share of all FIFA commercial revenue to US private equity firm Thrive Capital, led by Joshua Kushner, brother of US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law. Infantino, who has grown increasingly close to Trump, did so without informing his own Council or administration.
On Monday, the FIFA president wrote to the FIFA Council and the 211 member associations indicating he would be open to a governance review and possible reform, although he made no mention of a proposal by three confederation heads to use FIFA’s vast reserves to give member associations a $10 million grant.
The Dutch and German football associations were among a number of FAs criticizing Infantino’s move.
Infantino has confirmed he wants to run again in the 2027 FIFA presidential election. If he gets that far, and it is by no means guaranteed, rivals have until November 18 to run.
“Football is not for sale,” Ceferin told the Portuguese meeting. “This is the message that UEFA has carried for years, and I am sure that this summit will take it further.”
Contact the writer of this story at samindra.kunti@insideworldfootball.com
