European football's power struggle with Gianni Infantino is escalating into open warfare. ONE reports that UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin is preparing an unprecedented boycott aimed at paralysing FIFA's 2029 Club World Championship, while simultaneously grooming Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi as the man to unseat Infantino altogether.

According to the report, the plan being drawn up in Nyon would go well beyond a symbolic protest. The idea is to choke the 2029 tournament of everything it needs to function — halting cooperation with FIFA's operational machinery and denying the event official sponsorships and host locations, effectively strangling Infantino's pet project before a ball is kicked.

ONE notes the timing is no accident. The 2029 edition is still without a confirmed host, secured financing or committed sponsors, leaving it exposed to exactly the kind of coordinated squeeze UEFA and its allies are reportedly considering. Frustration among major European clubs over solidarity payments still owed from the expanded 2025 Club World Cup, held in the United States, is said to be adding fuel to the fire.

That grievance, per the report, is being used to justify a broader refusal to fall in line behind Infantino's future ventures — sentiment that has been building for months rather than appearing overnight.

The dispute over FIFA's direction is well documented beyond ONE's report. UEFA's 55 member federations have already voted to boycott FIFA competitions in protest at Infantino's proposal to sell a minority stake in the World Cup to private investors, branding the plan "irresponsible and indefensible" and declaring that "the World Cup is not for sale." Asia's confederation, through its president Sheikh Salman, has called the scheme "totally unacceptable."

It is against that backdrop that Čeferin's second, more personal manoeuvre becomes significant. ONE reports he is actively promoting Al-Khelaifi as a candidate to challenge Infantino for the FIFA presidency, with the UEFA chief viewing the Qatari as an ideal, well-resourced alternative capable of drawing support from federations well outside Europe.

Al-Khelaifi is no peripheral figure to make that case for. The 52-year-old has run Paris Saint-Germain since 2011, chairs the European Club Association and beIN Media Group, and sits on both UEFA's executive committee and the FIFA Council — while overseeing PSG's back-to-back Champions League triumphs in 2025 and 2026.

Qatari associates quoted elsewhere insist he has no personal hunger for the job. A representative close to Al-Khelaifi has said he has "absolutely no ambition, no intention, no interest in the FIFA role," and that it would take considerable persuading to change his mind — a line that tracks with ONE's characterisation of reluctance on his part even as UEFA pushes him forward.

The mechanics of any challenge are not immediate. Candidates for the FIFA presidency must formally register by November 18, with the election itself not due until March 2027. Infantino has held the post since 2016 and has faced no opposition in either of his two re-election campaigns, in 2019 and 2023.

Whether Čeferin's dual strategy — starving the 2029 tournament while building a rival candidacy around Al-Khelaifi — actually forces Infantino's hand remains to be seen. But the scale of the confrontation being described marks one of the most serious threats yet to his grip on world football's governing body.