Ceferin warns Infantino that broken trust in football cannot be undone by governance review

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin delivered a pointed rebuke to FIFA and its president Gianni Infantino on Wednesday, warning that trust in global football has not recovered since the collapse of FIFA’s plan to sell a 20 per cent stake in its commercial rights — including the World Cup — to private investors. Speaking at the Portugal Football Summit via video link, Ceferin stopped short of naming Infantino directly but left little doubt about his target.

“The project that shattered the unity of world football may be abolished, but the trust it broke has not returned, and repairing it is our work now,” Ceferin said. He framed the crisis around three principles he said had been abandoned: unity, transparency, and governance that serves the broader game rather than individual ambition.

“Football is not for sale,” he added. “That is the message UEFA has carried for years, and I’m certain this summit will carry it further.”

The remarks came two days after Infantino distributed a letter to the FIFA Council and the presidents of all 211 member associations, in which he proposed commissioning an independent external review into FIFA’s governance framework for major strategic initiatives. Infantino suggested the review could examine the roles of the president, bureau, Council and Congress to improve accountability and operational transparency.

The private equity plan collapsed in July following coordinated opposition from UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation and Concacaf. Despite the scheme’s abandonment, multiple federations have so far remained unconvinced by Infantino’s letter.

Ceferin’s intervention represents his first substantive public comments since Infantino floated the governance review, and signals that the rift between UEFA and FIFA’s leadership has not closed. Infantino, who is expected to seek re-election at the FIFA presidential vote in March 2027, has maintained he is fully committed to leading the organisation.

“The game will remain safe if those who govern it remember whom they govern it for,” Ceferin said in closing, a line that encapsulated the broader challenge now facing FIFA as it attempts to rebuild relationships with its most powerful confederations.