Infantino must remember he is European - Ceferin
August 24, 2026 01:20
Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin has publicly denounced Fifa president Gianni Infantino's shelved plan to create a commercial vehicle for Fifa competitions, saying Infantino needs to “remember he is European” and describing the proposal as even worse than the European Super League. The Fifa plan—known as Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE)—would have placed commercial and ticketing rights for Fifa competitions into a new company with 21% offered to private investors; Fifa abandoned the proposal earlier this month after strong opposition.
Uefa led the European pushback, with members voting to boycott World Cups unless the FFE plan was dropped. The governing body says it has lost confidence in Infantino, and the football associations of all the UK home nations have withdrawn their support. Ceferin also criticised apparent outside influence on Fifa decision-making after a high-profile case in which a red-card suspension was overturned following an intervention the US president said involved a direct call to Infantino.
KEY CONTEXT
- The FFE proposal aimed to centralise commercial and ticketing rights for all Fifa competitions and to sell a 21% stake to private investors.
- The European Super League, which Ceferin referenced for comparison, was a proposed breakaway competition of 20 top clubs that collapsed days after its 2021 unveiling following widespread backlash.
- Infantino previously spent 16 years at Uefa, including nine as general secretary. Since the FFE controversy he has been campaigning for support internationally, meeting Caribbean Football Union members in the Dominican Republic and attending an e-sports event in Paris that was also attended by public figures such as France’s president, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Cristiano Ronaldo.