Ceferin Says Trust in Football Remains Broken

UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin said trust in world football remained broken after FIFA abandoned a plan to sell a stake in its commercial rights to private investors, calling for unity, transparency and governance that serves the wider game. FIFA President Gianni Infantino has proposed asking the FIFA Council to consider an independent review of the organization’s governance framework, but the council has not approved one in the accounts provided. Ceferin made the remarks in a video address to the Portugal Football Summit on Wednesday. He did not name Infantino or FIFA, but referred to a project that he said had damaged football’s unity. Ceferin said the plan might have been abandoned, but the trust it had broken had not returned, and that repairing it was now the sport’s responsibility. The proposal, known as FIFA Forward Enterprise, would have involved selling investors a stake in FIFA’s commercial rights, including rights associated with the World Cup. It was dropped in July after opposition from UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation and CONCACAF.