UEFA will throw their weight behind a candidate from outside Europe to challenge Gianni Infantino for the FIFA presidency, according to a press report.
Writing in "Mundo Deportivo", the paper explained that with Infantino under scrutiny over his suspended plan to privatise the World Cup by opening it up to investment funds, the FIFA presidential elections on 18 March 2027 in Rabat, Morocco, are already stirring plenty of debate. UEFA are watching the process closely.
The window for submitting candidacies closes on 18 November. Aleksander Ceferin, UEFA president and a long-standing opponent of Infantino, has made clear he will not run himself.
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UEFA will still back the candidate challenging Infantino, with the aim of overhauling a FIFA structure they dominate.
In Nyon, they are tracking developments to see who will take on Infantino. But UEFA are reluctant to field a European candidate, wary that the vote could look like a straight fight between FIFA and UEFA that shuts out the other confederations.
That reluctance is why UEFA do not oppose the option of Victor Montagliani. The 60-year-old Canadian is president of CONCACAF and has served as a FIFA vice-president since 2016. Born in Vancouver to Italian parents, he knows European football inside out.
For now, UEFA are waiting to see the detail of his project. Should it fail to match their vision for FIFA, they will look for a European candidate in Nyon as a last resort. The wider desire, though, is to break the run of European presidents and avoid a third in a row after Switzerland's Joseph Blatter (1998-2016) and Infantino, who won the 2016 election and was re-elected in 2023. Before them came Brazil's Joao Havelange (1974-1998).
Uniting the confederations is UEFA's priority. The coming weeks will be decisive in settling on an opposition candidate to Infantino.
Every passing day plays into the FIFA president's hands. He has been running an unofficial campaign for months.
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Earlier reports suggested UEFA might support Asian Football Confederation president Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa of Bahrain, should he stand. Qatar's Nasser Al-Khelaifi is seen as another possible option, but he has confirmed he is happy in his current role as Paris Saint-Germain president.