UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has criticized plans for secretive investors to buy soccer tournaments just as FIFA president Gianni Infantino promotes a $25 billion offer from a Saudi Arabia-backed fund. During a European Union policy debate Wednesday on commercialization of elite sport, Ceferin told lawmakers: ''Football is not for sale.'' ''I cannot accept that some people who are blinded by the pursuit of profit are considering to sell the soul of football tournaments to nebulous private funds,'' the European soccer leader said. Infantino has not identified the investors who want to expand the Club World Cup to a tournament with 24 teams that is held every four years and create a biennial global national team competition, citing a non-disclosure agreement during a 60-day negotiating period which expired last week. FIFA has now shelved its plan to seal a 12-year partnership with the consortium before the World Cup kicks off next month, but talks are expected to resume soon. Ceferin helped force the FIFA delay with support from European soccer officials, including domestic leagues who fear the promised prize money shared among elite clubs would distort their competitions. ''We are committed to unity and solidarity, because we have a duty to care for the European sports model,'' Ceferin told lawmakers, citing the need for soccer to be ''fair, unpredictable, united and open.'' ''As long as I will be UEFA president, there will be no room for pursuing selfish endeavors or hiding behind false pretenses,'' the Slovenian lawyer said.
