Ceferin tells European clubs Infantino is 'naked emperor' and urges them to say enough

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin launched his most pointed public assault yet on FIFA counterpart Gianni Infantino during a speech to European clubs in Copenhagen on Tuesday, invoking Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’ to call out what he described as secrecy, unilateralism and rule-bending at the top of world football.

Ceferin’s central target was Infantino’s development of a plan to bring private investors into a new World Cup commercial vehicle — a scheme that reportedly blindsided FIFA’s own member associations and its Council before it was nearly finalised.

“An emperor is persuaded that he is wearing magnificent clothes — clothes which, he is told, only the foolish or unfit cannot see,” Ceferin told the assembled clubs. “His court goes along with it. Until a child simply says aloud what everyone can see: the emperor is naked.”

He pressed the point with a direct analogy aimed at club executives: “Imagine one of your senior executives secretly negotiating away control of your club’s crown jewels. You didn’t know. Your board didn’t know. Your players didn’t know. Your fans didn’t know. By the time you find out, the deal is almost done. What would your board do?”

Ceferin also drew on the controversy surrounding United States striker Folarin Balogun, whose one-match ban was suspended after US president Donald Trump called Infantino. “Imagine that same person creates an award for a politician, and then soon after, that politician takes a phone, calls, and the rules are not the same any more,” Ceferin said. “How many times would this have to happen at your clubs before the board says enough? Well, my friends, I think it’s time to say enough.”

The UEFA president was not alone in his criticism. On the same day, LaLiga president Javier Tebas, speaking at a FIFPro summit, described the Balogun episode as “the most serious incident in the history of football.” Tebas also took aim at FIFA’s consultation process, arguing that stakeholders are heard but ultimately ignored: “They tell you their views, you raise your concerns, and then they go ahead and do what they want.”

The coordinated nature of the criticism — from the heads of both UEFA and LaLiga on the same day — signals growing unease among European football’s most powerful institutions over the direction of FIFA under Infantino’s leadership.