In Morocco’s election: Ceferin settles his position on standing against Infantino

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has settled his position on next March’s FIFA presidential elections. The Slovenian confirmed he will not run for the post, despite his sharp disagreements with current president Gianni Infantino. The decision leaves the race open for another rival whose identity remains unclear.

Speaking on the British podcast “The Rest Is Politics”, Ceferin said he has no interest in taking over the FIFA presidency, affirming his commitment to working within UEFA, which he has headed since 2016.

“I’m not interested” in the FIFA presidency, he explained, adding that his credibility as one of Infantino’s most prominent opponents would be greater if he was not personally chasing the post himself.

His stance ties directly into the escalating crisis between UEFA and Infantino. The FIFA president’s plans to open up the governing body to investors stirred fierce controversy, and European opposition against him hardened as a result.

UEFA had threatened to boycott all FIFA competitions, including the World Cup, before the controversial project was withdrawn. Yet the European body’s position on Infantino’s continuation has not shifted.

Ceferin laid out two scenarios. In the first, Infantino realises he lacks sufficient support to be re-elected. In the second, he stands anyway, and the UEFA president expects a rival candidate to emerge. Ceferin admitted he does not yet know who that candidate might be.

Media reports point to Canada’s Victor Montagliani, president of CONCACAF, as a possible challenger to Infantino. The federations opposed to the FIFA president have been drawing closer together, chief among them UEFA, CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation.

Infantino, for his part, hit back at the criticism by stressing the need to develop football across all 211 member associations, and to close the gap between the major nations and the rest of the world.

Never one to let a jab pass, Ceferin returned fire on Infantino’s speech. FIFA’s talk of an “arrogant Europe”, he argued, ignores the fact that the current president is himself European, and that he reached his post with UEFA’s support.

The FIFA presidential elections are set for March 2027 in the Moroccan city of Rabat. Any candidate must secure a majority of the votes from the 211 member associations. Infantino remains, for now, the only officially declared candidate.