The leaders of UEFA, CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) have reportedly formed an alliance aimed at toppling Gianni Infantino.
The FIFA president is under huge pressure after he was forced to abandon a hugely controversial proposal to sell stakes in the World Cup to a group led by Josh Kushner, the brother of Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared, following a major revolt from the footballing world.
UEFA subsequently declared a loss of confidence in the Italian-Swiss administrator, while the English and Welsh FA are among several countries to withdraw their support for his re-election in next March’s elections.
This has left Infantino fighting for his job, and he reportedly held crunch talks with the White House on Monday in a bid to help him survive.
And now, according to The Times, the leaders of the three confederations are preparing to ‘paralyse FIFA’ if he refuses to resign.
The report adds that they have several plans in place if the FIFA President insists on remaining in power and seeking re-election at next March’s election.
Gianni Infantino’s opponents have formed an alliance in an attempt to force him to resign
The alliance includes the leaders of UEFA, CONCACAF and the AFC (pictured – Infantino with his UEFA counterpart Aleksander Ceferin in 2024)
This includes being prepared to stage their own rival international competitions, while they are also willing to impose a ‘government boycott’.
This would effectively mean they would refuse to either ratify FIFA decisions or be involved in council and committee meetings.
A source told The Times: ‘Everyone is very determined he needs to go, and if not we will take all the necessary steps [to remove him from power].
‘That includes future international competitions – would the big South American countries prefer to play France or Spain, or Lebanon or Djibouti? Everyone is very determined, there are no backward steps now.’
It is also believed that with several countries withdrawing their support for Infantino, he has only secured the backing of around 15 nations so far.
Back in the summer, it was understood that the 56-year-old had the support of nearly all of the 211 FIFA members for his re-election in March. He needs 106 votes to win.
No candidates have yet come forward to challenge him though, and they only have until November 18 to do so.
If a significant number of nations called for Infantino to quit, it may help generate support for an emergency FIFA council meeting.
The English and Welsh FA are among the nations to withdraw their support for Infantino
Daily Mail Sport also reported earlier on Monday how several European nations, including England and Wales, had formally withdrawn their backing for the beleaguered football chief.
At the weekend, the FA had called for ‘a full and robust review of FIFA’s leadership and governance to ensure that the global game is run transparently’.
A statement from the Welsh FA on Monday then read: ‘The Football Association of Wales hereby confirms its withdrawal of support for the candidature of Mr. Gianni Infantino, for re-election as FIFA President for the 2027–2031 term.
‘The recent failures in good governance, processes, leadership, values, stakeholder management, communications and sound judgement have led us to a position where Mr. Infantino has lost the confidence of the FAW to remain at the helm of world football. Failing to put the best interests of football first is a failure we cannot accept.’
Serbia, Sweden and Finland also publicly withdrew their support, although Morocco, Qatar, Lebanon, Kuwait and Sri Lanka were among those to back Infantino.
The latest update in this saga comes after UEFA sent Infantino a legal letter on Friday, where it threatened legal action over the abandoned plot, before adding that documents relating to the plan, known as FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), must be preserved.
The letter to Infantino read: ‘Uefa hereby gives formal notice that it is actively considering legal action, arbitration, and/or regulatory complaints (together, the “proceedings”) arising out of and in connection with the FFE plan proposed by Fifa and all related matters as further described below.
‘You and Fifa are required to take immediate steps to identify, locate, and preserve all documents and electronically stored information described in this notice that are in your or Fifa’s possession, custody, or control.’
UEFA went on to warn FIFA that ‘any destruction, deletion, alteration, concealment or loss of relevant materials’ after their letter ‘may constitute spoliation of evidence’.
They then refused to rule out further action if any of the aforementioned actions took place, but the letter itself is not legal action.
The letter also insisted that FIFA must ensure that certain individuals, including Infantino, Arsene Wenger, FIFA’s chief of global football development, secretary general Mattias Grafstrom and Kevin Lamour, FIFA’s chief operating officer, ‘specifically preserve all such materials in their possession’.
UEFA later confirmed to Daily Mail Sport that a document preservation letter was sent.
