Gianni Infantino faces a growing Infantino FIFA leadership crisis as football’s most influential officials prepare to meet in Zurich on Thursday, amid calls for change at the top of world football following the collapse of his proposed investment plan.
The FIFA president will be at a FIFA Council meeting for the first time since the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) programme was abandoned in July. The plan was to sell a minority interest in a commercial subsidiary of FIFA to private investors, including those involved in FIFA’s World Cup enterprise.
One of the companies mentioned in the plan is one started by Jared Kushner, brother of Donald Trump’s son-in-law Joshua Kushner. But the plan fell apart soon after it was announced, revealing disagreements between top football leaders over the management of FIFA’s business and commercial plans.
The UEFA, Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and CONCACAF will send representatives to the Zurich meeting. They’ve been at the forefront of voices demanding a change in FIFA leadership, with their presidents, Aleksander Ceferin and Salman Al Khalifa and Victor Montagliani, leading the way.
The conflict will also be put before representatives from all continents in football, as players from the African, South American and Oceania confederations will attend as well.
One of the key issues on the agenda should be governance reform. If the bid for his resignation doesn’t succeed, some Council members apparently have plans to narrow Infantino’s control, reflecting the conflict is not only over the failed investment proposal.
Infantino, 56, is running for a second term as the head of FIFA in the election in March 2027. The deadline for nominations of candidates is November 18. Former Switzerland and Tottenham Hotspur defender Ramon Vega has already confirmed his plans to compete, but not confirmed if he has the backing of the 5 national associations needed to enter the competition.
