Javier Tebas wants Gianni Infantino gone. The La Liga president insists that scrapping the plan to sell stakes in FIFA competitions falls well short of ending the governance crisis engulfing the international body.
Tebas took to his official account on the platform "X" on Saturday, writing: "Infantino should not continue. FIFA's withdrawal of its proposal to privatise its competitions is good news. But it would be a grave mistake to believe that the governance problem has been solved by this."
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"Continental and national federations, leagues, and players should not be content with the withdrawal of this proposal and consider the matter closed," he continued. "The issue is far deeper than that."
The La Liga chief then reeled off a list of grievances: "Have we already forgotten the withdrawal of the red card after political intervention? And the open investigation in the US Congress, which requested Gianni Infantino's appearance over serious accusations? And the dropping of charges in the historic corruption cases within FIFA? And the shocking World Cup ticket prices? And the unilateral decisions regarding the international match calendar, the new competitions, and the tournament systems, which were adopted without a genuine process of dialogue and consensus with the parties concerned?"
His argument went further still: "The problem was never a single proposal. The problem is a governance model that concentrates power, reduces checks and balances, and marginalises the parties directly affected by its decisions."
Tebas then drove his point home: "For all these reasons, I believe that Gianni Infantino should not continue at the head of FIFA. World football needs new leadership that modernises governance, restores institutional credibility, and builds future decisions in consensus with the parties concerned, and after assessing their sporting, economic and social effects, rather than imposing them unilaterally."
He signed off with a warning: "The withdrawal of a single proposal does not erase everything that has happened. It is merely the tip of the iceberg."