Ceferin attacks Infantino with ‘the emperor is naked’ warning

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has launched a fierce attack on FIFA counterpart Gianni Infantino, accusing football’s governing bodies of using reassuring language to disguise decisions that undermine the game.

Speaking at the European Club Association’s general assembly, Ceferin criticised Infantino’s leadership as the FIFA president faces growing pressure over a proposal to sell stakes in the commercial rights to the World Cup.

Infantino later withdrew the proposal after coming under intense opposition. Ceferin is seeking to use the Swiss official’s current difficulties to force him to resign, according to the source article.

In his address, Ceferin referred to Hans Christian Andersen’s story The Emperor’s New Clothes, written almost 200 years ago.

“We all know this story,” Ceferin said. “An emperor is convinced that he is wearing magnificent clothes, clothes he is told can only be seen by the foolish or the unworthy.

“His courtiers pretend to believe all of this until a child says out loud what everyone can see: the emperor is naked.”

Ceferin then connected the story to recent developments in football, saying that pleasant-sounding statements could not alter uncomfortable realities.

“Perhaps the lesson of this story is that sweet words cannot change uncomfortable facts,” he said. “The football world has recently heard some very sweet words: ‘development’, ‘democracy’, ‘consultation’ – words that are actually being used to describe the opposite.”

The UEFA president also challenged the language used to justify the World Cup commercial-rights proposal.

“Selling part of football’s future does not become ‘development’ simply because it is called ‘development’,” Ceferin said. “Imposing a fait accompli on national associations is not ‘democracy’, even if it is called that.

“No matter how large the amount of money paid is, secrecy does not become ‘consultation’ simply because it is called that.”

Ceferin ended by asking how long football would tolerate such decisions before openly rejecting them.

“How many times will this be repeated in your clubs before the world says ‘enough’?” he said. “Well, my friends, I believe the time has come for us to say ‘enough’.”

His comments, reported by Foot Mercato, represent a direct challenge to Infantino at a time when the FIFA president has faced strong resistance to the proposed sale of World Cup commercial rights.