Infantino against the UEFA history of a conflict

With their protest, the European members of the FIFA council exposed FIFA President Gianni Infantino. The conflict has a long history.

The council members of the UEFA were the rest of the FIFA congress in Paraguay’s capital Asunción stayed away after a coffee break. It was an organized protest, several seats remained empty on the stage, including that of DFB President Bernd Neuendorf, who is a member of the FIFA Council. FIFA president Gianni Infantino Had hundreds of delegates and the President of Paraguay to wait more than three hours because he was too late from a Middle East trip with US President Donald Trump arrived in Paraguay.

The POTESTACTION established the UEFA as follows: Infantino had only changed the schedule, “To meet private political interests”it was said in a message from the UEFA. Such a plain text and such open conflicts are rarely in sports policy. The FIFA Congress in Paraguay was a new low in the ratio between UEFA and Gianni Infantinos FIFA, some of which have existed in the past – a look at the history of power struggle:

2016: Infantino follows Blatter – not Platini

After the FIFA scandals and the relegation of Sepp Blatter, the then UEFA President stood Michel Platini ready for the successor to the FIFA tip. But then a payment of two million francs from Blatters FIFA in 2011 became known to Platini – supposedly as an additional payment for consultant services. Blatter and Platini were both closed.

In Infantino – the former Secretary General Platinis at UEFA was then elected FIFA. Platini later accused Infantino of having made the payment known to the authorities in order to become president himself. Infantino denied this, a procedure against him was hired.

The procedure against Blatter and Platini only ended in March this year with an acquittal before a Swiss Court of Appeal – nine years after Infantino was elected to the head of the FIFA instead of Platini. Infantino has been President of the World Association since 2016 – he took some UEFA employees with him. This caused so much trouble that both associations had to agree not to reject each other.

2017: The introduction of the Video assistant

The FIFA was a driving force in the introduction of the video assistant. The International Football Association Board (IFAB) Is the committee that determines the football rules, FIFA has the biggest say there.

But the UEFA was on the brake for a long time when it comes to video assistant, President Cefere kept skepticism – but gave up his resistance in view of the general development. Again and again the conflict in the Ifab shows, where UEFA demands the opposite of what FIFA wants – and vice versa.

2018: The secret tournaments

Infantino tried to complete a deal of $ 25 billion with an investor group from the USA, China and Saudi Arabia. He wanted to give investors far -reaching design of new competitions. Infantino did not want to reveal exactly what this should look like and who the investors were and who was in FIFA Council, because he was committed to confidentiality. The project was rejected, the process led to a significant cooling of the relationship with the UEFA.

2021: The Two-year rhythm The World Cup

The men’s World Cup is the fifa gold donkey. The World Association was almost exclusively financed by the income from sponsoring, tickets and TV rights of this tournament for many years. The idea: why not play the World Cup every two years? What Infantino needed was someone who asks about it. This was done by the Football Association Saudi Arabia, which demanded a feasibility study at the 2021 Congress and received whether the World Cup should be held every two years.

The FIFA organized media appointments in which FIFA director Arsène Wenger and “FIFA legends” like Sami Khedira presented the advantages of a two-year rhythm. It was the UEFA and Aleksander Ceferin who drew all the stops to stop the project. Together with South America’s association, they threatened with boycott and thus formed the opposition to Infantino’s wishes, which finally gave up the plan.

2022: The “One-Love” bandage in Qatar

In the run-up to the World Cup in Qatar, some powerful associations from Europe thought it was appropriate to stand up with the “One Love” captain’s bandage for human rights. Conversely, there was an undisguised criticism of the World Cup host Qatar, where there were well-documented serious human rights violations.

The UEFA did not carry the protest – but some of the most important of its members. The associations from Germany, England, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Wales and Denmark announced the use of the bandage in an effective manner and, according to their own statements, also wanted to carry them in the event of resistance. But then Infantinos FIFA threatened with reference to the tournament rules “Sporty consequences” Like a yellow card, for example. Some associations reported threatened point deductions that are said to have stood in the room.

That was enough for the associations to bend. They wore the binds specified by FIFA. Infantino laughed at the then Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser, who had brought the bandage as a form of protest. The associations were in public as backbone. In the case of Infantino’s re-election as FIFA president in 2023 by acclamation, some associations such as the DFB did not explicitly clap.

2022/23: The introduction of the club World Cup

After not getting the two-year rhythm, Infantino wanted to have another way to generate money for FIFA. So far it was dependent on the men’s World Cup. An expansion and redesign of the club World Cup should solve the problem. 32 teams are now playing in the USA in the summer of 2025. Infantino prevailed, although the UEFA has many reasons to be against it:

But the UEFA did not go against the club World Cup, but carried out all decisions in the FIFA Council. The simple reason: it cannot face the interests of the top European clubs. Because she needs it in everyday life on her side and also in the fight against the Super League. With their teeth, Ceferin took the new tournament and said Schmallippig in April: “The club World Cup takes place and done. The clubs from Europe wanted the tournament.”

The European protest on the FIFA Congress and the punishment of Infantinos on the open stage now takes the conflict into the next round. In 2027, Infantinos ends up -to -date term, then he would have to stand for re -election.