Uefa has put European football on war footing with Fifa over Balogun decision | Matt Hughes
The Guardian – US News
theguardian.com
Summary
European governing body’s dramatic move could have major implications for the future of the sport Perhaps the only globally renowned figure who has been more conspicuous by his absence at this World Cup than Donald Trump is the Uefa president, Aleksander Ceferin, although both men have more than made up for their silence over the last 24 hours. By endorsing a statement in which Uefa accused Fifa of crossing “a red line” in making the “incomprehensible and unjustifiable” decision to lift the USA striker Folarin Balogun’s suspension for Monday’s last-16 tie with Belgium, Ceferin has effectively put European football on a war footing with the world governing body, a dramatic move that could have major implications for the future of the sport. Much like Trump, and indeed, Gianni Infantino, Ceferin is a hands-on president and avid consumer of football media, so will have known exactly what his organisation was doing. The latter pair have been at loggerheads ever since Infantino proposed the creation of an expanded Club World Cup in 2018, which finally came to pass in the US last year, with much of the current tension between Fifa and Uefa based on the former’s desire to expand the Club World Cup from 32 to 48 teams for the next tournament in 2029. With Uefa making almost €5bn (£4.27bn) from the Champions League each year, a figure set to rise by about 20% from next year based on media rights and commercial packages sold to date, Fifa wants a piece of the club action, given the vast majority of its four-year revenues of $14bn (£10.5bn) comes from the World Cup . The most recent public sign of enmity between Uefa and Fifa came in Paraguay in May 2025, when European delegates, including Ceferin and the Football Association chair, Debbie Hewitt, walked out of Fifa Congress in protest at the late arrival of Infantino , who had been attending a summit in the Middle East with world leaders including Trump and Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. Since that symbolic show of defiance there had been something of a truce, however, which insiders have attributed to the fact both Infantino and Ceferin will be seeking re-election next year, and have agreed to keep infighting to a minimum. While Uefa has attempted to score some political points on the back of Fifa’s unpopular running of this World Cup – announcing low ticket prices for Euro 2028, making clear they will not introduce hydration breaks and appointing the Somali referee Omar Artan to take charge of the Uefa Super Cup after he was prevented from officiating at the World Cup by the US Department of Homeland Security – the detente has just about held. For all the many criticisms of Uefa , it is an intensely process-driven, bureaucratic organisation, while in using article 27 of its disciplinary code as a get-out to clear Balogun and Cristiano Ronaldo last year, Fifa gives the impression of making policy on the hoof. Following last year’s controversy in Paraguay, Ceferin did not attend this year’s Fifa Congress in Vancouver, while Infantino made his brief appearance at the AGM of the lobby group European Football Clubs (EFC) in Rome last year when Ceferin was absent.
From the source
European governing body’s dramatic move could have major implications for the future of the sport Perhaps the only globally renowned figure who has been more conspicuous by his absence at this World Cup than Donald Trump is the Uefa president, Aleksander Ceferin, although both men have more than made up for their silence over the last 24 hours. By endorsing a statement in which Uefa accused Fifa of crossing “a red line” in making the “incomprehensible and unjustifiable” decision to lift the USA striker Folarin Balogun’s suspension for Monday’s last-16 tie with Belgium, Ceferin has effectively put European football on a war footing with the world governing body, a dramatic move that could have major implications for the future of the sport. Continue reading...
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Published by The Guardian – US News on theguardian.com


