By Fernando Kallas
OEIRAS, Portugal, Sept 23 (Reuters) - UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin said trust in world football had not been restored following the collapse of FIFA’s controversial private-investment plan, in his first public comments since FIFA President Gianni Infantino offered a review of the governing body’s decision-making.
In a video address to the Portugal Football Summit on Wednesday, Ceferin said unity, transparency and governance that served the wider game were essential to maintaining
trust in football.
“Yet 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.
“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 did not name Infantino or FIFA directly, but his comments were an apparent reference to the abandoned proposal to sell a 20% stake in FIFA’s commercial rights, including the World Cup, to private investors. The plan was dropped in July after fierce opposition from UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation and CONCACAF.
“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.”
His intervention came two days after Infantino sought to address the fallout in a letter to the FIFA Council and the presidents of all 211 member associations.
Infantino said he would ask the Council whether it wanted to commission an independent external review of FIFA’s governance framework for major strategic initiatives and proposed consultations with confederations, member associations and other stakeholders on strengthening its decision-making processes.
He said any review could examine the roles of the president, bureau, Council and Congress and ways to improve transparency and accountability.
The letter has so far failed to win over several federations that had criticised Infantino over the investment proposal.
Infantino has said he remains fully committed to leading FIFA and is expected to seek another term at the presidential election in March 2027.
Ceferin said those running the sport needed to remember whom they served.
“The game will remain safe if those who govern it remember whom they govern it for," he said.
(Writing by Julien PretotEditing by Christian Radnedge)
