FIFA president Gianni Infantino is facing the gravest threat to his tenure after being compelled to abandon a deeply controversial scheme to sell a stake in the World Cup to private investors. The climbdown, triggered by a fierce worldwide backlash, has done nothing to quell the mounting fury directed at football’s most powerful figure.
CONCACAF, the governing body for football across North and Central America and the Caribbean, has now added its voice to those of UEFA and the English FA in demanding a comprehensive review of FIFA’s leadership.
The crisis marks the most significant challenge to a sitting FIFA president since Sepp Blatter’s downfall in 2015.
In a forceful statement, CONCACAF and its 41 member associations said they “welcome the withdrawal of the proposed FIFA Forward Enterprise” but made clear that the damage runs far deeper than a single botched proposal.
Gianni Infantino’s job at FIFA is seriously under threat
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The confederation declared that “the future of the FIFA World Cup, the greatest asset in world football, was advanced outside every established governance framework, without transparency, consultation or due process.”
Crucially, CONCACAF characterised the episode not as an isolated misjudgement but as part of a broader malaise. “A proposal of this magnitude does not reach that stage by accident,” the body stated. “It is a symptom of leadership that has stopped putting football first.”
The organisation insisted that “FIFA is not a private enterprise” but rather “a body held in trust for the game and its members,” adding that “where that duty is not upheld, accountability cannot be optional.”
UEFA, Europe’s football governing body, went further still, declaring that it had “lost confidence” in Infantino. The continental organisation branded his proposal a “shabby, backroom, opaque deal he hatched and tried to force through,” dismissing any pretence of openness by stating it was “anything but transparent.”
The English FA swiftly aligned itself with that position, calling for a “full and robust review of FIFA’s leadership and governance.”
Infantino himself has acknowledged the fallout, though stopped well short of contrition. In remarks exclusively obtained by Sky News, the FIFA president said: “Having listened carefully to all the views, it has become clear that the project has created divisions… that are no longer in the interest of the objective set out in the first place.”
There has been no indication whatsoever that he intends to resign voluntarily.
UEFA had announced it would boycott the World Cup if FIFA’s sell-off plan went ahead | GETTY
Andy Burnham welcomed the reversal but left no doubt about his view of the man at the top. Having previously labelled the investment scheme an “outrageous suggestion,” he told reporters: “The idea that it could even be brought forward shows that, in my view, [Infantino] is the wrong man to lead the organisation.”
The Greater Manchester mayor described FIFA’s retreat as “the right decision,” though his remarks underscored a growing consensus that merely shelving the proposal is insufficient.
The central question now consuming world football is whether Infantino can cling to power. According to Sky News sports correspondent Rob Harris, formal manoeuvres to dislodge the Swiss-Italian administrator from the presidency are not merely being discussed but are officially in motion and accelerating. No signals have emerged that Infantino might step aside of his own accord.
Andy Burnham has labelled Gianni Infantino ‘the wrong man’ to continue leading FIFA forward | GETTY/PA
Several routes exist through which Infantino could be removed from office. Under FIFA’s own statutes, 43 member nations — representing a fifth of the total membership — may convene an emergency congress within three months, at which a motion to dismiss the president can be tabled.
Alternatively, FIFA’s ethics committee possesses the authority to investigate and sanction officials found to have breached the organisation’s ethics code, though this avenue appears less likely given no clear ethical violations have been identified.
The third possibility is straightforward electoral defeat. Infantino faces re-election next March, and a credible challenger could unseat him through a simple vote of the congress.
The precedent is instructive. Infantino’s predecessor, Sepp Blatter, resigned in 2015 amid an expanding FBI corruption investigation into FIFA before being banned by the ethics committee.
