Michel Platini gives Ceferin private vote of confidence in FIFA row

Michel Platini has personally congratulated UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin after European football’s governing body threatened to boycott the World Cup amid an escalating dispute with FIFA and its president, Gianni Infantino.

According to exclusive information reported by French newspaper L’Equipe, Platini contacted Ceferin to praise the position adopted unanimously by UEFA’s 55 member associations. Their stance was to threaten a boycott of the World Cup in protest at controversial commercial plans being led by Infantino.

UEFA said on Thursday that no European team would take part in any FIFA competition while the proposal remained in place, unless FIFA provided guarantees that it would “never open its governance or competitions to private interests”.

The dispute centres on plans to create a commercial company called FIFA Forward Enterprise. The proposed structure would be open to private-sector investors and could allow them to acquire stakes linked to the World Cup.

Platini, who led UEFA from 2007 to 2015, has received countless media requests but has maintained his public silence. He is nevertheless understood to be following the crisis engulfing FIFA closely.

The former France international is also engaged in a long-running personal conflict with Infantino, who served as his right-hand man during Platini’s time as UEFA president. Platini holds Infantino responsible for obstructing his attempt to become FIFA president in 2015, following the outbreak of the FIFA Gate scandal.

His reported message to Ceferin represents a rare private indication of his position as UEFA confronts FIFA over the proposed commercial structure. The support also places Platini behind the collective stance taken by all 55 UEFA members, rather than a position expressed solely by the organisation’s leadership.

UEFA’s warning is conditional on the proposal continuing without assurances that FIFA will keep its governance and competitions closed to private interests. The organisation has not announced any further action beyond the threat that European teams could withdraw from FIFA competitions.

The disagreement has intensified around the commercialisation of FIFA’s major competitions and the role private investors could play in World Cup-related assets. UEFA’s statement made clear that European football would not accept the proposal without guarantees regarding the independence of FIFA’s governance and competitions.

Platini’s relationship with Infantino has deteriorated sharply since the former UEFA president’s failed bid for the FIFA leadership in 2015. Infantino, who had worked closely with Platini at UEFA, went on to become FIFA president, while Platini’s ambitions were halted in the aftermath of the FIFA Gate scandal.

The latest development therefore links a public confrontation between FIFA and UEFA with a private show of support from Platini, one of Infantino’s most prominent former allies and now one of his fiercest critics.