Ceferin Brands FIFA's World Cup Sell-Off Plan "Worse Than the Super League"
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has described Gianni Infantino's abandoned plan to sell a stake in the World Cup as "worse than the Super League," declaring the proposal dead and vowing that European football's governing body will not allow the sport to be sold.
Speaking on the Rest is Politics podcast, Ceferin did not hold back. "Football would be literally sold," he said, comparing the scheme to the European Super League — the breakaway project of 20 top clubs that collapsed within days of its unveiling in April 2021 after a furious public backlash. BBC Sport
The plan at the centre of the row was ambitious. FIFA, world football's governing body, intended to create a new company called FIFA Forward Enterprise to manage commercial and ticketing rights for all its competitions. A subsidiary valued at roughly $20 billion would have offered stakes of up to 20% to private investors, raising as much as $4.2 billion. Infantino set a deadline of 19 September for the organisation's 211 member federations to accept one-off $20 million offers tied to the project. Reuters; Al Jazeera
Earlier this month, FIFA scrapped the proposal entirely. Infantino confirmed the decision on a Friday, stating that plans to sell a stake in the World Cup to private investors had been dropped. Yahoo Sports
The retreat came under enormous pressure. UEFA and its 55 member associations issued a unanimous statement rejecting the plan outright, and European members voted to boycott future World Cups unless it was abandoned. The football associations of all the home nations — England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland — withdrew their support for Infantino. UEFA; BBC Sport
Ceferin said UEFA had no prior knowledge of the plan. He found out through the media while on holiday with his family, and Infantino has not contacted him since. The UEFA president also delivered a pointed reminder about the FIFA president's roots. Infantino worked at UEFA for 16 years, including nine as general secretary, before his election as the ninth FIFA president. "Someone should remind him that he is a European and that he was supported by UEFA," Ceferin said, "which he forgot." BBC Sport
Infantino, for his part, has been keeping a high profile. On Saturday he met Caribbean Football Union members in the Dominican Republic. On Sunday he attended the E-Sports World Cup in Paris, sharing the room with French President Emmanuel Macron, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Cristiano Ronaldo. BBC Sport
For fans, the stakes are straightforward. The World Cup is the one tournament that belongs to everyone who loves the game — every nation, every confederation, every four-year cycle of hope and heartbreak. The idea that a chunk of it could be sold to private investors, however well-funded, struck a nerve because it touched the question of who football's biggest event actually belongs to. Ceferin's blunt language and the unified European pushback made the answer clear: not for sale, not this time.
Whether the peace holds is another matter. The plan is dead, but the financial logic behind it — a multi-billion-dollar valuation of the World Cup's commercial rights — has not gone away. Infantino has not spoken publicly about the withdrawal beyond confirming it. The next FIFA Congress, where the 211 member federations gather to vote on the organisation's direction, will tell us whether this was a retreat or a regrouping.
