It has begun! Čeferin attacks Infantino
Aleksander Čeferin has moved from institutional criticism to a very public swipe at Gianni Infantino.
Details: Speaking at the European Football Clubs General Assembly in Copenhagen, UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin launched a sharp attack on FIFA president Gianni Infantino while discussing the abandoned FIFA Forward Enterprise project. The proposal would have created a FIFA-controlled commercial subsidiary holding rights to major competitions, including the men's and women's World Cups and the Club World Cup, while allowing private investors to acquire a stake of up to 20%.
Invoking Hans Christian Andersen's The Emperor's New Clothes, Čeferin delivered a striking comparison:
"An emperor is persuaded that he is wearing magnificent clothes which, he is told, only the foolish or unfit cannot see. His court goes along with it. Until a child simply says aloud what everyone can see: the emperor is naked."
Čeferin used the story while challenging the language FIFA had employed to defend the project. He argued that words such as development, democratization and consultation could not change what he described as an opaque process in which national associations were effectively presented with a fait accompli.
The FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal was eventually abandoned after widespread opposition. Infantino had previously presented the initiative as a way to generate additional money for football development and maintained that the plan was subject to consultation with FIFA's 211 member associations.
It is worth noting that Gianni Infantino has served as FIFA president since February 2016.
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Steven Perez
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