Ceferin Says Infantino Would Face Challenger in FIFA Election

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has said Gianni Infantino would likely face a challenger if he seeks re-election as FIFA president next March, escalating a governance dispute that has widened since the collapse of a plan involving private investment in the World Cup. The Guardian reported the comments on Sunday after Ceferin discussed the issue in a podcast interview.

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The dispute centres on the Football Forward Enterprise proposal, known as FFE. According to the Guardian, the scheme involved selling stakes in the World Cup and was shelved in early August after broad opposition. Ceferin characterized the proposal as more damaging than the breakaway European Super League project abandoned in 2021 following widespread protests, arguing that it would have put the sport itself up for sale.

Ceferin said he considers the FFE plan dead and presented two possible paths for Infantino: acknowledge that he no longer has sufficient support or contest the March election against an opponent. He said he did not yet know who that candidate would be. Concacaf president Victor Montagliani has been mentioned as a possible contender, but no candidacy was confirmed in the report.

The UEFA president ruled out entering the FIFA race himself. The Guardian reported that Ceferin is expected to seek a fourth term leading UEFA, with that election scheduled for next April. He also said he and Infantino had not been in contact since the FFE controversy emerged, underscoring the deterioration in relations between the leaders of football’s global and European governing bodies.

Opposition to Infantino has also spread among national associations. Six Nordic football federations issued a joint statement saying they had lost confidence in the FIFA president and had serious concerns about the organization’s governance and senior decision-making. They called for binding assurances against private ownership of FIFA governance or competitions and requested an independent third-party review of the FFE proposal.

The Norwegian Football Federation had already become the first member association to call directly for Infantino to resign earlier in August. UEFA has continued to press for his departure, with support also reported among Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation. A threatened boycott of FIFA competitions has not been withdrawn, leaving the organization facing continued pressure ahead of the scheduled presidential election.