Love or loathe him, Gianni Infantino has already secured his place as one of the most impactful FIFA presidents in history.
Since he was elected in 2016, the Swiss-born career administrator has pursued a mandate of relentless expansionism.
This summer’s World Cup, spread out across an entire hemisphere in Canada, the US and Mexico and featuring 48 teams for the first time ever, is the clearest example.
Next time around, the World Cup could welcome 64 teams.
But the Club World Cup, traditionally a minimalist affair featuring a single team from each FIFA confederation, is perhaps just as significant a focus for Infantino. At Infantino’s behest, financed by Saudi sovereign wealth, the Club World Cup is now a 32-team affair with a prize money pot of nearly $1bn.
There is an ideological element to Infantino’s expansionism, yes. Time and time again, the FIFA president’s sales pitch is that football belongs to the world. And there is some nobility in that.
But equally, it is no coincidence that FIFA operates a one country, one vote system which, when Infantino is giving more and more nations and club sides the chance to participate in the biggest FIFA competitions, means his chances of being deposed as the organisation’s boss are slim.
That said, the 2026 World Cup, now reaching its dramatic climax, has been turbulent for Infantino, to say the least. And according to the latest reports, there is a growing contingent who would like to see the back of the FIFA president.
At least four officials want Gianni Infantino’s job ahead of 2027 elections
Infantino’s obsequiousness to American president Donald Trump and the alleged influence of the US president on the decision of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee to overturn Folarin Balogun’s red card earlier in the World Cup has been, for many experts and insiders, the final straw.
UEFA, the body which oversees the game in Europe, said FIFA had “crossed a red line” and a number of national associations are said to be cooling on Infantino’s request to endorse him for re-election in 2027.
And according to UK journalist Ben Jacobs writing for talkSPORT, there are at least three would-be challengers who could potentially be persuaded to run against Infantino.
Dariusz Mioduski, the owner of Polish club Legia Warsaw, has supposedly been touted as an alternative by federations including Bosnia, Norway, Sweden, Germany and Spain.
Victor Montagliani, the president of Concacaf, is also said to have aspirations to head up FIFA, though the party line for now is that he is concentrating on his current role. Similarly, Patrice Motsepe, who leads CAF, is viewed as a future contender.
Meanwhile, UEFA president Alexander Ceferin and Nasser Al-Khelaifi, president of Paris Saint-Germain and the European Football Clubs institution, are both reluctant to stand. But the tone of Jacobs’ pieces suggests that neither is a hard ‘no’.
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