UEFA, under the leadership of Aleksander Čeferin, has declared a lack of support for FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
Previously, Čeferin described himself as an underdog leader, despite having headed UEFA since 2016 and successfully pushing through a statute change that allows him to run for a fourth term next year.
One battle where the 58-year-old Slovenian seems poised to stay on the sidelines is the contest against Infantino, who is seeking a fourth and final term as FIFA president in Rabat this coming March.
Infantino is facing significant pressure for the first time, partly due to UEFA’s reaction to his scrapped private investor plan.
Čeferin is expected to be a key ally for any potential challenger to Infantino.
UEFA’s threat to boycott the World Cup if Infantino pushed his proposals may have contributed to the Swiss official’s humiliating withdrawal of the plan last Saturday.
Like Infantino, Čeferin is a lawyer by training and will be hoping he has chosen the right moment for his final showdown.
“I think you should pick your battles in both professional and personal life. You should fight only when there is a real reason to do so, but every fight is exhausting,” he told Politico last year.
The successful rejection of the investment plan is not the first time Čeferin and UEFA have played a decisive role in opposing FIFA under Infantino and emerged victorious.
Their resistance—alongside the South American confederation CONMEBOL—ultimately forced Infantino in 2021 to abandon the idea of holding the World Cup every two years.
Čeferin’s next objective will be to prevent Infantino, who was re-elected unopposed in 2019 and 2023, from securing a fourth term as FIFA president.
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