Čeferin: FIFA Trust Damaged by World Cup Rights Plan

Aleksander Čeferin has accused those running FIFA of breaking the trust the sport depends on, after the governing body shelved a plan to sell off part of the rights to the World Cup.

The UEFA president was responding to a question about his alignment with Italian federation president Gabriele Gravina on the row surrounding FIFA president Gianni Infantino. The private-investment project, which drew opposition from UEFA and other bodies, was put on hold, but Čeferin said the damage to confidence in the game had not gone away with it.

The French federation withdrew its backing for Infantino's re-election bid over the same governance dispute earlier this month. Čeferin's remarks point to broader unease within European football rather than a dispute confined to one federation.

Gravina's own federation is already dealing with results on the pitch: Italy sit fourth in their UEFA Nations League group with no points from one match.

If the disagreement over FIFA's governance persists, it may keep shaping how European federations approach Infantino's leadership beyond this one shelved project.