Infantino's grip on Fifa presidency weakens after investment plan collapse

On Tuesday morning, Gianni Infantino held the most powerful office in global football. By Thursday evening, his grip had begun to slip. The collapse came fast and came hard: a plan to sell stakes in Fifa competitions to private investment firms—apparently hatched without consulting anyone else in the organization—had triggered a cascade of withdrawals from the confederations that form the bedrock of his authority.

Uefa moved first and moved decisively. Europe's football governing body, long Infantino's sharpest critic, threatened to boycott every Fifa competition, including the World Cup itself. It was the kind of ultimatum that signals a confederation has decided the moment to strike has arrived. But Uefa was far from alone. Concacaf, the confederation Infantino had worked closely with to organize the 2026 World Cup, called for a full review of Fifa's leadership. The Asian Football Confederation, which had seemed loyal, turned against him too. Within days, two of his closest advisers—senior adviser Carlos Cordeiro and chief operating officer Kevin Lamour—abandoned ship. By Saturday morning, after Infantino backtracked on the investment plan, Uefa issued a statement saying it had lost confidence in him entirely.

The question now is whether he can survive. Fifa's constitution offers several paths to his removal, though none is simple. The fastest would be resignation, as his predecessor Sepp Blatter did in 2015. But Infantino has indicated he intends to hold on. He could attempt to weather the storm until March, when he faces re-election for what would be a fourth and final term. An emergency meeting of the Fifa Council could be called if 19 of its 37 members demand one—but sources suggest even assembling those 19 votes may prove difficult. Even if such a meeting occurred, Infantino could simply refuse to resign when asked.

The more serious threat lies in an extraordinary congress of all 211 Fifa member associations. Uefa alone, with 55 member nations, can trigger this process whenever it chooses. Such a congress would require a minimum of two to three months to organize, and a no-confidence vote would need 106 votes to pass. The math is tight. Uefa has 55 votes, Africa 54, Asia 46, Concacaf 35, Oceania 11, and Conmebol 10. But Africa, Conmebol, and Oceania have not criticized Infantino's plan. While 136 countries officially rejected the investment scheme, rejecting a proposal is not the same as voting to remove a president. Qatar has publicly backed him; Mexico has distanced itself from Concacaf's joint statement. Infantino would need to lose support from confederations that have so far remained neutral.

If removal does come, it will likely come through an election in March rather than forced resignation. That would require finding a candidate capable of uniting the fractured federation. A European candidate might struggle to gain global support, given that Uefa has led the charge against Infantino. The most plausible alternative appears to be Victor Montagliani, the Concacaf president, who was elected in 2016 on a governance reform platform and played a central role in organizing the 2026 World Cup. Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, president of the Asian confederation, is another possibility. Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the Qatari who chairs European Football Clubs, could theoretically challenge Infantino but appears uninterested in the role, and his backing from Qatar complicates matters.

Yet Infantino's position may be more resilient than the current chaos suggests. Football operates by different rules than most organizations. Blatter was re-elected just days before he resigned in 2015, when scandal left him no alternative. Infantino has already begun a repair campaign. Morocco, a co-host of the 2030 World Cup, backed him on Saturday evening. Egypt praised him for canceling the investment plan. He has three months before any no-confidence vote could occur—time enough to persuade wavering federations that the scheme was an aberration, not a pattern. The race is on: can he rebuild his coalition faster than Uefa can assemble the votes to remove him? One variable could prove decisive. During the 2015 scandal, major sponsors including Sony, Emirates, and Johnson & Johnson severed their deals with Fifa. If corporate partners begin to distance themselves now, Infantino's position would become genuinely untenable. For now, that has not happened. But the saga is far from over.