Gianni Infantino will face FIFA officials calling for his departure Thursday in his first meeting with football’s top leadership since his plan to sell stakes in FIFA tournaments, including the World Cup, collapsed.
The FIFA president has faced calls to resign from leaders of three regional confederations: UEFA in Europe, the Asian Football Confederation and CONCACAF, which governs North and Central America and the Caribbean.
Their representatives will attend a FIFA Council meeting in Zurich, alongside counterparts from Africa, South America and Oceania.
The failed FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) scheme is expected to be among the key topics. Infantino was forced to abandon the plan within days of announcing it in July.
Under the proposal, Infantino sought to sell a minority stake in a FIFA commercial subsidiary to private investors. A company launched by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, was identified as the proposed lead investor.
The 37-member council will also address FIFA’s governance, with some of football’s most powerful figures determined to limit Infantino’s powers if they cannot force him out of office.
Infantino, 56, will stand for reelection in March 2027, with a Nov. 18 deadline looming for potential candidates to submit their nominations.
Last week, former Switzerland and Tottenham Hotspur defender Ramon Vega announced his intention to run but has not confirmed whether he has the backing of the five national associations required to enter the race.
The FFE proposal exposed divisions in world football, with Aleksander Ceferin, Salman Al Khalifa and Victor Montagliani, the presidents of UEFA, the AFC and CONCACAF, respectively, saying it was time for a change at the top of FIFA.
However, Infantino has been canvassing support as he seeks to remain in power. He received a standing ovation when he met African football leaders last week in Cape Verde.
He is also expected to receive backing from South America in next year’s election in Rabat, Morocco. Despite criticism of his leadership from the AFC, many Asian countries, including a bloc of Arab nations, have offered their support.
People familiar with the matter told Reuters that, although the chances of finding someone to replace Infantino were remote, his opponents were determined to isolate him further and curb his powers.
In addition to reviewing FFE, council members are expected to discuss FIFA’s financial reserves and how much money it can distribute to member associations, along with its disciplinary procedures, governance framework and Peace Prize, which was controversially awarded to U.S. President Donald Trump last year.
Last month, UEFA and CONCACAF called on FIFA to release $10 million to each of its 211 member associations, challenging Infantino’s FFE proposal, under which associations could receive $20 million in development funding and potentially access an additional $20 million.
Emanuel Medeiros, founder and global CEO of the Sport Integrity Global Alliance, a pressure group advocating better governance in sports, said FIFA needed to have a “frank discussion” in Zurich.
“The eyes of the world are on them,” he said. “The world of football expects to see a council that takes this unique opportunity to establish a genuinely independent, comprehensive and transparent governance review ... We certainly wish to see a new impetus, a new dynamic.”
However, lawyer and politician Miguel Maduro, who chaired the FIFA Governance Committee in 2016 before Infantino dismissed him, said he would be surprised if anything meaningful came out of Thursday’s meeting.
“They may announce the setting up of a working group or even an independent review of FIFA governance, but the credibility of either exercise will be very limited in light of FIFA’s track record,” he said.
“Such an exercise, if not genuinely independent and enforceable, might be more of the same: a window-dressing exercise simply aimed at reducing public pressure and stating that they have now addressed whatever problems they had.”
