Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin has delivered a fierce criticism of Fifa leader Gianni Infantino, targeting the unsuccessful Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) initiative and a series of recent controversies. Declaring that “the emperor has no clothes”, he argued that the moment had come to say “enough”.
Speaking to the European Football Clubs (EFC) general assembly, Ceferin avoided directly naming Infantino but left little doubt that he believed a leadership change was necessary at Fifa. Referencing the gathering’s setting in Copenhagen, he used Hans Christian Andersen’s The Emperor’s New Clothes as a parallel for Infantino’s actions. He also alluded to the peace award presented to Donald Trump, last summer’s Folarin Balogun controversy and the FFE project.
Ceferin recalled the story of a ruler who is convinced that he is dressed in splendid garments that supposedly cannot be seen by anyone foolish or unsuitable for office. While everyone around him maintains the pretence, a child eventually states the obvious: the emperor is wearing nothing. Ceferin said the lesson was that reassuring language cannot conceal difficult truths.
He argued that transferring control over part of football’s future cannot be described as development simply by attaching that label to it. Likewise, presenting national associations with an effectively completed agreement does not amount to democracy, regardless of the money involved, while confidential dealings cannot be considered genuine consultation.
Addressing the large number of club delegates in attendance, Ceferin suggested that similar conduct by an executive would never be accepted within their organisations. He asked them to imagine discovering that a senior official had privately negotiated control of a club’s most valuable assets without informing its board, players or supporters, leaving the agreement close to completion before anyone else became aware of it.
He also described a hypothetical executive establishing a peace award for a political figure without consulting the board about either the prize or its recipient. Ceferin then referred to that same politician calling during a major international tournament to challenge an on-field ruling, after which the original decision was reversed despite what the regulations stated.
Ceferin asked how often such incidents would need to occur before a club’s board intervened. In his view, that point had already been reached, and neither status, position nor influence entitled anyone to trade away football’s long-term future.
The dispute between football’s leading governing organisations had escalated a day earlier, when Fifa accused Uefa of spreading misleading claims and attempting to shape the forthcoming presidential contest. Fifa also asked a United States court to deny Uefa access to documents intended for a possible criminal complaint involving Infantino.
Leading Uefa officials remain determined to identify a challenger to Infantino in next March’s Fifa election before nominations close on 18 November. EFC chairman Nasser al-Khelaifi had previously been discussed as a possible future candidate, but in Copenhagen he firmly rejected the prospect of seeking the presidency.
Al-Khelaifi said he had no desire, plan or ambition to take a role at Fifa and did not consider himself suitable for the position. He added that he was satisfied with his current responsibilities and had no intention of pursuing the job.
Instead, Al-Khelaifi wants to broaden the reach of the organisation he already leads. During his general assembly address, he called for the creation of “World Football Clubs”, proposing a representative body that would also include teams from outside Europe. He later said the organisation would be pleased to support and work with clubs from other regions around the world.
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