More than a dozen smaller World Cup participants have issued a joint statement contradicting UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin, who criticized “uninteresting” World Cup games by small teams.
“The football associations of Cape Verde, Curaçao, Uzbekistan, DR Congo, Haiti, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Ghana, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire and South Africa express their deep disappointment at the recent comments by UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin”is it[calledin a joint statement from the associations. “There is no unimportant World Cup game for our countries. Football does not belong to a select group of nations.”
The statement appeared on the official websites of many of the associations mentioned, although not all of the alleged signatories published it on their channels and pages.
Ceferin spoke in the Slovenian media
The background is statements by the UEFA President in the Slovenian media about expanding the World Cup to 48 teams. “In my opinion this is not a good decision because we have a lot of games that are completely uninteresting”said Ceferin, who is automatically FIFA Vice-President through his office. “Some national teams that came to the World Cup wouldn’t have won a single game in Europe.”
However, Ceferin restricted this, which the associations omitted in their criticism: “On the other hand, smaller countries can also take part and feel the atmosphere of the World Cup, which is very important”said Ceferin, who spoke about other aspects of the tournament in the conversation.
Curacao played its first World Cup game against Germany.
Ceferin criticized World Cup ticket prices and “Peace Prize” for Trump
When asked that FIFA President Gianni Infantino would consider the World Cup as… “the greatest show on the planet” Ceferin spoke of a “marketing stunt”. He also found critical words for the ticket prices for the tournament. “The stadiums will probably be full, at least for the important games, because there are enough rich people in the USA and Canada. But do you really want to get rid of the fans?”he asked.
Ceferin also commented on Infantino’s relationship with US President Donald Trump. When Trump didn’t win the Nobel Peace Prize, Infatino awarded him a “FIFA Peace Prize.” Ceferin said it was “It’s a bit embarrassing to give the prize to someone who a month later kidnaps a president and a few months later attacks another country. That’s shameful. That’s why I think it’s risky to give such prizes to politicians.”.
He emphasized that, as FIFA vice-president or as a FIFA council member, he had not found out about the award in advance. DFB President Bernd Neuendorf, who is also a member of the FIFA Council and has repeatedly justified the award with reference to Trump’s role in the Middle East conflict, also confirmed that the FIFA Council was not involved. Infantino defended his closeness to Trump as necessary in relation to the World Cup organization.
UEFA and FIFA have been in conflict for a long time
UEFA and FIFA have been in conflict for years. In the past, UEFA, together with South America, prevented FIFA’s wish to host the World Cup every two years. FIFA pushed through the Club World Cup against UEFA’s wishes; UEFA could not act against the financial interests of European clubs. The next expansion has long been under discussion; South America is calling for a tournament with 64 teams for 2030. After FIFA was embarrassed by refusing entry to one of its referees, UEFA nominated Omar Artan for their Supercup.
Referee Omar Artan from Somalia is denied entry into the USA.
The 2026 World Cup will bring FIFA record revenue. The income are Infantino’s instruments of power. Infantino supplies all 211 national associations with money through prize money from the World Cup and payments from FIFA’s development program. The smallest associations are completely dependent on the payments and at the same time have the same voting rights as associations from France, Argentina or Germany. Infantino is up for re-election in 2027. He is already assured of a majority and no opposing candidate in sight.
In the run-up to the World Cup, he denied that he was using the money to secure his power. He has the responsibility to use income to enable investments.