LONDON — UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin has ruled himself out of the running for FIFA’s top job, but issued a stark warning to Gianni Infantino: step down voluntarily or prepare for a fierce leadership challenge in March.
Infantino’s presidency has been thrown into crisis following intense backlash over a now-abandoned plan to sell stakes in the FIFA World Cup to private equity investors. The proposal ignited fury across global football governing bodies, prompting three continental confederations to accuse Infantino of "deception" and leading UEFA to openly threaten a total boycott of FIFA competitions.
Speaking in an interview on The Rest is Politics: Leading podcast, excerpts of which were published in British media on Sunday, Ceferin outlined two distinct paths forward for the world soccer chief.
"One option is that he realizes that he doesn't have the support—and that's not only political support from voters, but political support from the football community, fans, players, former players, and coaches," Ceferin said. "And the second option is that he goes to the elections in March, but in that case, I think he will have a candidate against him. I don't know yet who."
High Stakes Ahead of November Deadline
Infantino has held FIFA's presidency since 2016 and was previously expected to secure reelection unopposed next year at the FIFA Congress in Morocco. However, his standing has been severely eroded by the private equity row. Candidates hoping to run against him face an official nomination deadline of November 18.
While many inside global football administration viewed Ceferin as the logical rival to challenge Infantino, the 58-year-old Slovenian administrator firmly closed the door on any personal bid for the position.
Ceferin cited two main reasons for staying out of the presidential race: his commitment to European football and the authority of his current role.
"I'm not interested for two reasons," Ceferin explained. "One reason is that I love UEFA and I love working here, and I think that at a certain point… it's time to also enjoy life a bit. And the second point is, my credibility is much, much higher if I'm not interested in the position."
With Ceferin out of the running, attention now shifts to whether a united opposition within the continental confederations will put forward an alternative candidate before November to challenge Infantino’s decade-long tenure atop global football.
