Ceferin and Infantino: 8 years of conflict at the top of football | Goal.com

Veröffentlicht am 31 Jul 2026 | Lesezeit: 3 Minuten

Aleksander Čeferin, president of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), stands as the most prominent opponent of Gianni Infantino, president of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), on one issue in particular: the project to open global competitions to private-sector investors, a plan that could permit the sale of stakes in the commercial value of the World Cup.

A Slovenian lawyer who cut his teeth in sports law before taking over the Slovenian Football Association, Čeferin rose to the UEFA presidency in 2016, the same year Infantino became FIFA president.

The two men had worked together within UEFA. But their relationship gradually curdled into a conflict over the future of international football and its commercial direction, according to the British newspaper "Daily Mail".

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Rejecting the investors' project is the latest episode in this feud. UEFA's 55 associations unanimously agreed to threaten a boycott of FIFA competitions if the plan goes ahead, a confrontation Čeferin frames as a defence of the European football model and a refusal to turn the game into a commodity for investors.

This was not their first clash. Čeferin fiercely opposed FIFA's handling of some 2026 World Cup files, criticised organisational changes such as the mandatory hydration breaks, and rejected plans to expand the World Cup to 64 teams, branding the idea "bad".

The row also flared over the expanded Club World Cup, which UEFA saw as a threat to the Champions League against a backdrop of a congested calendar and player exhaustion.

Adding more matches conflicts with protecting the players, Čeferin warned. "The calendar is excessively saturated. The players are overloaded and are exposed to injuries."

The commercial dispute goes back several years. In 2018, he accused Infantino of "selling the soul of football", saying: "Money does not rule. Football is not for sale."

In 2021, Čeferin led the fight against the European Super League project, co-founded by major clubs including Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester United. He defended the model of open competition and sporting merit, and called the breakaway "a spit in the face of football lovers and society as a whole".

Relations frayed further at FIFA's annual congress last May, when Infantino arrived more than two hours late after accompanying Donald Trump on a diplomatic tour of the Middle East.

Čeferin led a walkout of several European association representatives during the break. He accused Infantino of putting "his own political interests" ahead of football governance, a charge the FIFA president rejected.

Čeferin presents himself as a defender of football's independence against commercial and political interests. His own career has not been free of controversy.

Back in 2017, a media investigation alleged that he did not meet the experience requirements needed to take over the Slovenian Football Association. The accusations did not stop him rising to the UEFA presidency.

With the row over "FIFA Forward Enterprise" escalating, the conflict between Čeferin and Infantino appears to have entered a new phase. This time it is not about a particular competition or regulation. It is about how world football is run, and who holds the right to profit from its commercial value.

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