In a pre-recorded address to participants at the Football Summit in Portugal on Wednesday (Sept. 23), UEFA President Alexander Čeferin emphasized that unity, transparency, and governance that serve the interests of the entire soccer community are key to maintaining trust in the sport.
“However, not everyone puts soccer above their own ambitions,” Ceferin said.
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“Trust in our sport rests on three pillars: unity, transparency, and governance that serves the many, not the few. All three pillars have recently been neglected by the very people who swore to protect them. The efforts that undermined the unity of world soccer may have been abandoned, but the trust that was lost has not been regained, and our task now is to restore that trust.”
Ceferin did not directly mention Infantino or FIFA, but his words were clearly referring to the rejected proposal to sell 20% of FIFA’s commercial rights —including those for the World Cup—to private investors. The plan was abandoned in July following strong opposition from UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation, and CONCACAF.
“Soccer is not for sale,” said Ceferin. “That is the message UEFA has been conveying for years, and I am certain this event will continue to spread it.”
His remarks came two days after Infantino attempted to respond to the backlash in a letter to the FIFA Council and the presidents of all 211 member associations. The FIFA chief stated that he would seek the Council’s opinion on whether it wishes to commission an independent external evaluation of FIFA’s governance framework for major strategicinitiatives and proposed consultations with confederations, member associations, and other stakeholders to strengthen the decision-making process.
“Sports will remain safe if those who govern it do not forget for whom they govern it,” Ceferin concluded.
*photo source: AP
