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Three of soccer’s most powerful regional confederations are quietly plotting the removal of Gianni Infantino from FIFA’s presidency.
UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation, and CONCACAF are in active discussions about triggering a no-confidence vote against Infantino, following a weeks-long saga involving a controversial commercial proposal that managed to unite critics across continents.
The $20 billion plan that backfired
The roots of this rebellion trace back to late July 2026, when Infantino pitched what he called “FIFA Forward Enterprise” to member associations. The plan was ambitious: create a new commercial subsidiary with an anticipated valuation of $20 billion, then sell minority stakes of up to 20% to outside investors.
Governance and transparency concerns erupted almost immediately among member federations. By July 31, just days after the proposal was introduced on July 28-29, Infantino pulled the plug entirely, citing the divisions it had caused.
Cracks in the coalition
The most visible sign of Infantino’s eroding support came on August 19, when Sándor Csányi, FIFA’s fifth vice-president, publicly withdrew his confidence in the president.
Several national federations have followed suit. Wales and Finland have both withdrawn their support for Infantino’s re-election bid. On the other side, Mexico’s federation has publicly maintained its backing.
Infantino still plans to seek re-election in March 2027, with the nomination deadline set for November 18, 2026. As of now, no official challengers have emerged.
Convening an extraordinary FIFA Congress, the body that could formally consider removing Infantino, requires the support of at least 20% of member associations. That translates to roughly 43 out of FIFA’s 211 members.
An extraordinary congress requires three months’ notice, which means even if the required signatures materialize soon, the earliest such a gathering could take place would be around November 2026. That timing would overlap almost precisely with the nomination deadline for the March 2027 election.
What got FIFA here
Infantino has led FIFA since 2016, winning the presidency in the aftermath of the corruption scandals that brought down his predecessor Sepp Blatter.
The FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal would have fundamentally altered how the world’s most-watched sporting event generates and distributes revenue. Critics worried it would concentrate financial power at FIFA’s headquarters while diluting the influence of member federations. The fact that Infantino withdrew the proposal within 72 hours suggests he recognized the political miscalculation.
The road to November
The 43-vote threshold for an extraordinary congress is the first real test. UEFA alone doesn’t have enough member associations to force the issue, which is why the involvement of AFC and CONCACAF matters so much.
The absence of a declared challenger complicates things for the opposition. A no-confidence vote without a clear alternative candidate risks looking like chaos for chaos’s sake.
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