The gloves are off. In language that would have been unthinkable between the heads of football's two most powerful bodies just two years ago, Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin has declared that Gianni Infantino's scrapped plan to sell stakes in the World Cup was "even worse than the Super League plan" — and that if Infantino stands for re-election in March, he will not stand alone. The scheme at the centre of the storm is the Fifa Forward Enterprise, a project that sought to bring private investment into the World Cup before it was shelved in early August under a wave of opposition. Ceferin, who has rallied Uefa, Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation against it, was scathing.

"Football would be literally sold," he told the podcast The Rest is Politics: Leading. "It's hard to imagine what kind of people would sell the sport that belongs to everyone." The Super League, he noted, was wrong — but at least the clubs behind it were not trying to sell the game itself to outside investors. The pressure on Infantino is now coming from multiple continents.

Last weekend, the Fifa president travelled to the Dominican Republic to court Concacaf members at a regional meeting, but reports suggest he left many of those present angrier, not calmer. Ceferin confirmed the two men have not spoken since the FFE scandal broke, a silence that speaks louder than any statement. Uefa is also keeping alive a threat to boycott Fifa competitions entirely, and talks with Concacaf about a joint Nations League tournament are continuing — a rival structure that would strip Fifa of some of its most marketable games.