Gianni Infantino's position as FIFA president is under severe pressure after his plan to give private investors a stake in the biggest FIFA tournaments collapsed completely. Reuters reports, among others, that CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani is likely to stand as a candidate, while AFC president Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa is also being mentioned.
For a long time, Infantino looked untouchable as FIFA president, despite heavy criticism over his close ties to US President Donald Trump. Since the announcement of his controversial plans, that has changed. UEFA and CONCACAF, North America, Central America and the Caribbean, quickly came out strongly against him.
UEFA announced a FIFA boycott and the criticism from the Netherlands was just as fierce. "This proposal is not right, in terms of process, governance and content," KNVB chairman Frank Paauw told the NOS. "The proposal must be taken off the table. As long as the proposal is not taken off the table, all 55 UEFA countries will not take part in FIFA competitions."
Now the Asian Football Confederation AFC has also come out strongly against Infantino, and even inside FIFA the Swiss administrator has faced enormous criticism. Infantino's top adviser Carlos Cordeiro and chief operating officer Kevin Lamour both resigned from FIFA.
"A president must bring people together, unite them and inspire them," Lamour said, among other things. "Today we are seeing the opposite happen. It is not a FIFA project, and it is certainly not a project of the FIFA board. It is a project of one person," obviously referring to Infantino.
If FIFA's member associations want to remove Infantino through the formal route, the process would still take months. Under article 25.4 of the FIFA statutes, they can force an extraordinary meeting if one fifth of FIFA's members request it in writing. UEFA have not yet made such a request and are considering further steps.
Should that written request force an extraordinary meeting, the statutes require at least two months to pass before it can actually take place. At that meeting, an absolute majority, more than half of the 211 member associations, would then be needed to vote Infantino out as president.
Meanwhile, Montagliani is emerging in particular as a possible successor to Infantino. The 60-year-old Canadian has never hidden his ambition to one day become FIFA president and now appears ready to make his move.
Montagliani has been president of CONCACAF since May 2016 and has until 18 November to officially stand as a candidate. That is the registration deadline for the FIFA presidential election for the 2027-2031 cycle. The winner will be announced on 18 March next year in Rabat.
Alongside him, Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa is also being mentioned as a possible successor to Infantino. The 60-year-old administrator from Bahrain has been AFC president since 2013. "The future of international football must always be shaped through thorough consultation, collective dialogue and respect for the established governance structures of our sport," he said, among other things, about Infantino's failed plans.
Nasser Al-Khelaïfi had previously also been suggested. However, the president of Paris Saint-Germain, a member of UEFA's executive committee, chairman of BeIN Media Group and chairman of European Football Clubs (EFC), does not fancy giving up his current roles for the FIFA presidency.