‘The emperor is naked’: UEFA’s Ceferin takes aim at FIFA boss Infantino

UEFA slams Infantino over his aborted plan to sell off stakes in FIFA competitions to private investors.Published On 29 Sep 202629 Sep 2026UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin said “the emperor is naked” in a blistering attack on FIFA President Gianni Infantino and his failed plan to sell a stake ⁠in the governing body’s commercial rights to private investors.Addressing the European Football Clubs General Assembly in Copenhagen on Tuesday, Ceferin invoked Hans Christian Andersen’s The Emperor’s New Clothes as he criticised the language FIFA had used to defend Infantino’s ⁠shelved FIFA Forward Enterprise project.“Almost 200 years ago, he [Andersen] wrote The Emperor’s New Clothes,” Ceferin said.“We all know the story. An emperor is persuaded that he is wearing magnificent clothes, clothes which he is told only the foolish or unfit cannot see.“His court goes along with it until a child simply says aloud what everybody can see. The ‌emperor is naked.”Infantino’s FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal would have created a FIFA-controlled commercial subsidiary holding rights to competitions including the men’s and women’s World Cups and Club World Cup and allowed private investors to acquire up ...