Pressure has mounted on FIFA president Gianni Infantino, despite his announcement that he was withdrawing a project to sell a share of the commercial rights to the World Cup. UEFA are leading moves to end his tenure.
The British newspaper "The Telegraph" reported today, Saturday, that UEFA have warned Infantino to resign or face a no-confidence vote from FIFA's member associations.
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Article 25 of FIFA's statutes underpins the move. It obliges the FIFA council to call an extraordinary congress if a fifth of the member associations submit a written request, that is 43 associations out of 211.
UEFA alone boast 55 member associations, more than enough to clear that threshold, with the extraordinary congress to be held within three months of the request being received, according to the French newspaper "L'Équipe".
Should the congress go ahead, all 211 member associations would take part in the vote. Removing the FIFA president requires a simple majority, more than 50% of valid votes, equivalent to 106.
The newspaper noted that 143 national associations had already opposed Infantino's project to sell a share of the World Cup: 55 from UEFA, 47 from the Asian Football Confederation and 41 from CONCACAF.
That does not necessarily mean all of them would vote to remove the FIFA president if it came to it. Even so, UEFA, who had earlier confirmed they had lost confidence in Infantino, look determined to keep piling on the pressure.