UEFA President against Infantino: "His plan is even worse than the Super League"

The rift at the top of world football is intensifying: UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin is launching an unprecedented attack on FIFA President Gianni Infantino, accusing him of having "forgotten" where he came from. Ceferin attacked the scrapped plan to sell part of the commercial rights of the World Cup to a private investment firm, claiming it was "even worse than the Super League." Earlier this month, FIFA withdrew from the plan to establish Fifa Forward Enterprise — a new company that was supposed to manage the commercial and ticketing rights for all FIFA competitions. As part of the move, it was planned to sell 21% of the company to a private investment firm. UEFA led the opposition to the plan and even threatened a boycott of the World Cup matches if the move was not cancelled. Since then, UEFA has announced that they have lost confidence in Infantino, and the football associations of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland have also withdrawn their support for the FIFA president.

"I think this plan is even worse than the Super League plan," Ceferin said on the podcast The Rest is Politics. "Very important clubs wanted to set up their own league, and that is a wrong thing that would have destroyed football. But in this case, football would simply have been sold."

"I am convinced that the plan is dead. It is hard to imagine what kind of people would sell the sport that belongs to everyone. We will not allow this to happen," he added.

The tension between the two organizations is not new, but Ceferin's latest remarks indicate the depth of the rift. The UEFA president said that the organization did not know about Infantino's plan in advance and that he himself discovered it through the media while he was on vacation with his family. "He has not contacted me since it happened," Ceferin said. "In FIFA they say: 'How arrogant Europe is against us. They have enough money, but I am helping the small and the poor.' But I think someone needs to remind him that he is European, and that UEFA supported him — something he has forgotten."

Infantino, who served for 16 years in various positions at UEFA, including nine years as the organization's general secretary, has recently been conducting an international campaign in an attempt to strengthen support for him ahead of the FIFA presidential elections. On Saturday, the FIFA president met with representatives of football associations from the Caribbean in the Dominican Republic, and on Sunday he arrived in Paris for the closing ceremony of the Esports World Cup. The event was also attended by French President Emmanuel Macron, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Portuguese national team star Cristiano Ronaldo.

Ceferin confirmed that he will not run for FIFA president in the elections to be held at the organization's congress in March 2027, when Infantino is expected to try to be elected for a fourth term. "I am not interested in that for two reasons," the 58-year-old Slovenian explained. "The first reason is that I love UEFA. The second reason is that I think at some point it is time to enjoy life a little bit too."

Ceferin was also asked about the close relationship between Infantino and US President Donald Trump, which strengthened around the last World Cup. "To tell you the truth, you are naive if you think that such a politician, or any politician, is your good friend. The moment you become a problem, you stop being a friend of a politician," said the UEFA president. He also addressed Trump's intervention in the red card affair involving US national team striker Folarin Balogun, who was initially suspended from the round of 16 match against Belgium, but his punishment was later suspended. "It was more than shocking. We have rules, and if you don't respect your own rules, the game no longer makes sense. It is shocking, and believe me, almost everyone was in shock. It's just that not everyone dared to speak," said Ceferin.