The alliance led by European football's governing body, UEFA, is exploring plans to rotate the presidency of world football's governing body, FIFA, among the continental confederations. The aim is to reduce the power of the position, should Gianni Infantino ultimately be forced to step down.
Internal conflict over the "FIFA Forward Enterprise" plan still grips the top of the game, a dispute that has since escalated into a war of attrition to remove the Swiss-Italian official from his post. Infantino is holding firm. UEFA and its allies, meanwhile, have already begun drawing up plans for the future, according to the British newspaper "Independent".
Several leaders of the game gathered in Salzburg this week for the UEFA Super Cup. It marked the first time they had been able to meet collectively in person since the FIFA crisis broke out, a crisis that began when Infantino announced he was aiming to sell shares in the World Cup to private-sector investors.
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin is understood to have held several meetings. The attendance of Patrice Motsepe, president of the Confederation of African Football, carried particular significance given CAF's previous support for Infantino.
Talks in Salzburg are understood to have covered plans for an independent review of FIFA's governance, along with a policy document setting out the future structure and principles of the body.
Some sources see real significance in limiting this to FIFA alone, without the continental confederations. It ties partly to plans to rotate the presidency among the continental bodies, along the lines of the European Union and similar multinational institutions.
In practice, that means FIFA would never again have a president wielding the power of Infantino or his predecessors.
Complementing the idea, they would also strengthen the administration around the presidency significantly, so it becomes more like a robust civil service body.
The British newspaper closed its report by noting that UEFA and its allies are focusing on changing the leadership and governance at FIFA, as the minimum outcome in this crisis.