Aleksander Ceferin took the floor on Tuesday in Copenhagen, at the general assembly of the EFC, the union of European clubs chaired by Nasser Al-Khelaifi. In front of the 900 member clubs, according to RMC Sport, the UEFA president said: “Football does not need emperors.”
He never said Gianni Infantino’s name. RMC Sport writes that he was aiming at the Fifa president’s running of the organisation all the same. Ceferin also summoned Hans Christian Andersen and his tale The Emperor’s New Clothes, the one where everybody can see there are no clothes and nobody says so.
Louise opened a new tab in her notebook. It is called “emperors”.
Silly question, but why don’t we say the name? In basketball, when you disagree with someone, you look at them. I reread Andersen’s tale on the 7:32 train. It’s the story of an emperor whom nobody dares tell what everybody can see. And the speech is the story of someone whose name nobody dares say, though everybody knows it. I asked the newsroom if it was on purpose. Three people smiled at me. None of them answered. Anyway, I still have a lot to learn.
The rest of the speech came in lines made to be remembered. “Football is not for sale, not today, not tomorrow, not ever,” Ceferin said. According to RMC Sport, it answered Infantino’s plan to set up a commercial company to run the World Cup rights. That plan has since collapsed. The DH, a Belgian daily, places the speech after the failure of the attempt to open the body to private investors.
Ceferin added: “We are the guardians, not the owners. Nobody has the right to sell its future.” Then: “It is time to say stop.” According to RMC Sport, the line was met with an ovation.
Gianni Infantino wasn’t in the room. He was represented by his secretary general, Mattias Grafström. Louise wrote the name in the tab, with a question mark next to it.
It’s true, we checked: RMC Sport.
