Čeferin says FIFA review offer has yet to repair trust

UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin has warned that withdrawing FIFA’s private investment proposal has not repaired the damage it caused to trust among football’s governing bodies. His remarks leave the question of who controls major commercial decisions at the centre of the dispute.Čeferin made the comments in a video address to the Portugal Football Summit on September 23. They were his first public response since FIFA president Gianni Infantino proposed a review of the organisation’s decision-making processes.Čeferin said: “The project that shattered the unity of world football may be abolished, but the trust it broke has not returned, and repairing it is our work now.”He did not name Infantino or FIFA in the address. His comments followed the collapse of a proposal to sell a 20% stake in FIFA’s commercial rights, including rights connected to the World Cup, to private investors.FIFA dropped the proposal after opposition from UEFA and other confederations. The disagreement extended beyond the proposed transaction to how it had been developed and whether member associations had sufficient oversight of a decision affecting football’s most valuable commercial assets.Infantino wrote to FIFA Council members and the presidents of its 211 member associations earlier this week. He proposed asking the council whether it wanted an independent external review of FIFA’s governance arrangements for major strategic initiatives.The proposed review could examine the responsibilities of FIFA’s president, bureau, council and congress. Infantino also suggested consultations with confederations, member associations and other stakeholders on transparency and accountability.Čeferin’s response indicates that an offer to review those processes has yet to resolve UEFA’s concerns. The confederation previously called for an examination of how the investment proposal arose and for safeguards against similar initiatives being advanced without broader scrutiny.The dispute also concerns the use of FIFA’s existing resources. Čeferin and CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani have pressed for more of FIFA’s reserves to be distributed to member associations for football development, arguing that private investment was unnecessary to provide additional support.Attention now turns to the FIFA Council’s October 15 meeting, when Infantino’s governance proposals are due to be considered. The scope and independence of any review will be a test of whether FIFA can rebuild support among the organisations that opposed the investment plan.