Ceferin: Trust in World Football Still Broken After FIFA Investment Row

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin says trust in world football is still broken, months after FIFA dropped its controversial plan to sell stakes in the World Cup.

Speaking publicly on the issue for the first time since FIFA president Gianni Infantino suggested an independent review of the organisation's decision making, Ceferin didn't name FIFA or Infantino directly during his address at the Portugal Football Summit on Wednesday. But his message was clear as he referred to a "project" that had damaged unity across the game.

"Not everyone places the game above their own ambitions," Ceferin said. "Trust in our sport rests on three pillars: unity, transparency, and governance that serves the many, not the few. In recent times, all three were disregarded by people who had sworn to protect them."

He added that simply scrapping the plan hasn't fixed the underlying problem. "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," he said.

The dispute stemmed from FIFA's proposal to sell a 20 per cent stake in its commercial rights, including the World Cup itself, to private investors. UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation and Concacaf all pushed back against the idea, and UEFA's 55 member associations went as far as warning they would refuse to take part in FIFA competitions if the plan went through. FIFA eventually dropped the proposal in July.

"Football is not for sale," Ceferin said. "That is the message UEFA has carried for years, and I'm certain this summit will carry it further."

Attention has since shifted to how FIFA makes its major decisions going forward. Infantino wrote to FIFA's 211 member associations and Council members on Monday, laying out possible changes in response to the criticism, including how the organisation handles big projects in future. Rather than launching a review himself, Infantino said he would put the idea to the FIFA Council, which is next due to meet on October 15.

For Ceferin though, withdrawing the investment plan hasn't closed the matter. "The game will remain safe if those who govern it remember whom they govern it for," he said.