Lawrence Nkede Njie
On Tuesday morning, Gianni Infantino looked untouchable: FIFA’s president, re-elected unopposed twice, presiding over a sport at the peak of its commercial powers. By Saturday, with his plans to sell stakes in the game’s flagship competitions to private investors dead in the water, he was fighting for his political life. A bruising 24 hours has produced the most serious challenge to his leadership since he took office a decade ago, and the question now being asked across football is not whether he is damaged, but whether he can survive.
How the crisis exploded
The trouble began with a proposal, apparently drawn up without consulting the confederations, to sell minority stakes in competitions including the World Cup to private investment funds. When it leaked, the backlash was immediate. UEFA, Infantino’s fiercest critic, played what it hopes is its trump card, threatening to boycott every FIFA competition — World Cup included. Concacaf, the confederation that worked hand-in-glove with Infantino to deliver the 2026 tournament, called for a full review of FIFA’s leadership. Even the Asian Football Confederation, traditionally one of the president’s most loyal blocks, kept its distance.
The personal toll was just as striking. Two of Infantino’s closest allies — senior adviser Carlos Cordeiro and chief operating officer Kevin Lamour — walked away. In the early hours of Saturday, with the walls closing in, Infantino blinked and scrapped the plan. UEFA’s response was withering: a statement declaring it had lost confidence in him.
The route to removing a president
Removing Infantino is no simple matter, as BBC Sport’s breakdown of the options shows. The quickest route would be resignation — the path Sepp Blatter took in 2015 when the game’s establishment finally turned on him. Infantino, though, still retains significant support and could attempt to ride out the storm until March, when he is due to stand for a fourth and final term.
In between lie two institutional weapons. An emergency meeting of the FIFA Council could be triggered by 19 of its 37 members — UEFA holds nine seats, Asia seven, Concacaf five, Africa six, South America five and Oceania three — though there are doubts the numbers can be found. More powerful is the extraordinary congress: a written request from one-fifth of the 211 member associations, just 43 nations, forces one, and UEFA’s 55 votes alone can supply that. Any vote of no confidence would then need 106 of the 211 to pass.
Who stands in the wings?
That arithmetic explains Infantino’s confidence. A total of 136 associations officially rejected the investment plan, but rejecting a proposal is not the same as removing the president who made it. Qatar has already publicly backed him, 2030 co-hosts Morocco followed on Saturday evening, and Egypt has praised him for cancelling the scheme.
If it does come to an election, the deadline for declaring a candidacy is 18 November, and the most credible challenger is Concacaf president Victor Montagliani — elected alongside Infantino in 2016 and central to delivering the 2026 World Cup. AFC chief Sheikh Salman is another possible standard-bearer. PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi is the long shot, not least because Qatar’s support for Infantino counts against him.
A fight for time
Infantino’s weekend statement promised to bring all interested parties back together in the coming days and weeks — a classic play for time, and time is exactly what he needs. The longer he can shore up support, the harder a vote of no confidence becomes. The wildcard remains the commercial world: during the 2015 scandal, sponsors including Sony, Emirates and Castrol walked away from FIFA. There is no sign of that yet, but this is a saga with the potential to rumble on for months.
Based on reporting by BBC Sport. Read the original analysis in full here: A bruising 24 hours – what next for Fifa and under-pressure Infantino?
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