European clubs leader Al-Khelaïfi of PSG says he won't be candidate in FIFA presidential election

GENEVA (AP) — European soccer’s search for a candidate to challenge Gianni Infantino in the FIFA presidential election will not land on clubs’ leader Nasser Al-Khelaïfi , the Paris Saint-Germain boss insisted Tuesday.

Al-Khelaïfi also is chairman of the influential European Football Clubs group and so sits on the executive committee of UEFA, which is leading efforts to oust Infantino after his failed plan to sell stakes in future World Cup profits to private investors.

As a minister in the government of 2022 World Cup host Qatar — which has so far supported Infantino — Al-Khelaïfi also could have broad appeal to FIFA voters in Asia, yet he moved to quash speculation he might try to lead soccer’s governing body.

“I have zero interest in FIFA, zero agenda (or) ambition to be there,” Al-Khelaïfi said at a news conference after an EFC annual meeting in the Danish capital Copenhagen.

“I don’t think I’m the right guy for this position and I don’t want to go actually, I’m enjoying what I’m doing,” the president of Champions League title holder PSG said. “I think FIFA’s not for me. Thank you.”

The annual meeting of the 900-member club was held amid a volatile time for soccer politics and Infantino’s future.

It is two months after Infantino’s multi-billion dollar FIFA subsidiary plan was revealed, then defeated within days, and seven weeks before the deadline for candidates to challenge him.

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin is leading the campaign to end Infantino’s presidency either before or at the March 18 election in Morocco, and he spoke to club leaders Tuesday.

“Football has no need for emperors,” Ceferin said in a near 10-minute speech that did not name Infantino, whose biggest plans since his first election in 2016 have typically been seen as threats by his former employers at UEFA .

Ceferin’s references, including creating an award for a politician , were clearly aimed at Infantino and his close working relations with U.S. President Donald Trump.

“It’s time to say enough,” said Ceferin, a FIFA vice president who has ruled himself out of being a candidate. “Rules bent when inconvenient. Those meant to have a say simply cut out. And football’s future treated as just another bargaining chip.”

Ceferin, like Infantino, was elected in 2016 — in the fallout of FIFA’s previous biggest crisis, provoked by U.S. and Swiss federal investigations — and also can seek a fourth and final term in office next year.

“Football needs great leaders like you,” Al-Khelaïfi said of Ceferin in his own speech, adding “we ask you to stand for president again next year.”

Ceferin, who said in 2024 he would leave office in 2027, is likely to be unopposed in the UEFA vote by 55 member federations scheduled in April in Astana, Kazakhstan.

See AP’s full soccer coverage here