Gianni Infantino has known for some time when and where his future at the helm of FIFA will be decided — March 18, 2027, in Rabat, Morocco — although right now he may be less certain about how he will get there. The president announced last April, in front of FIFA’s 211 member associations, that he would seek re-election, but the crisis that has unfolded over the summer has begun to reshape an electoral landscape that has offered little opposition in recent years. Aleksander Ceferin, president of UEFA, summed it up this weekend: if Infantino ultimately stands for election, he believes he will face a challenger. Ceferin himself ruled out being that person.
“There are two options: one is that he realises that he does not have the support, and I do not mean only the political support of those who vote, but the support of the football community, the fans, players, former players and coaches. And the second is that he goes to the election in March, but in that case I think he will have a candidate against him. I don’t know yet who,” the UEFA president said on The Rest Is Politics: Leading podcast. Ceferin also ruled himself out as a challenger to Infantino, who is seeking another term as FIFA president in March 2027.
Infantino has not faced another candidate since 2016. That year, following the departure of Joseph Blatter, he was elected FIFA president after running against Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, Prince Ali bin Al Hussein and Jerome Champagne. Infantino needed a second round of voting, eventually winning with 115 votes to Salman’s 88. In 2019, now as the incumbent president, he was the sole candidate and was re-elected by acclamation. The same happened in 2023, when he again stood unopposed and secured another term through 2027. That does not appear likely to be the case in the next election.
From the World Cup to a crisis of his own making
Infantino walked straight into trouble, unnecessarily shooting himself in the foot with his FIFA Forward Enterprise project, under which he proposed opening up a stake of around 20% in a company linked to the commercial rights of FIFA competitions, including the World Cup, to private investors. The initiative was eventually withdrawn in early August after triggering strong opposition across international football. UEFA, Concacaf and the AFC have questioned how the proposal was handled, while several European associations have publicly withdrawn their confidence in the FIFA president. The six Nordic associations — Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and the Faroe Islands — went even further this past weekend, calling for his departure and an independent external review of FIFA’s governance.
Ceferin, sensing an opportunity, described the private investment project as more serious than the European Super League of 2021 because, in his view, it directly affected the ownership and commercial exploitation of the world’s leading competitions. He also said that he has had no contact with Infantino since the crisis erupted.
Infantino, meanwhile, has once again placed the distribution of resources among FIFA’s 211 member associations and the need to reduce the economic gap between football’s major powers and countries with fewer financial resources at the heart of his message. This has been one of the pillars of his presidency since 2016 and remains an essential factor in understanding his political strength outside Europe.
The election has already begun
In an organisation such as FIFA, a presidential election does not begin when a candidacy is formally registered. Long before that come discussions between national associations, regional meetings, efforts to secure support and public positioning by the leaders of the six confederations. There is still no official alternative candidacy, but there is already movement behind the scenes.
FIFA’s statutes establish that a presidential candidate must have the support of at least five member associations and submit their candidacy at least four months before the Congress. Based on the date set for Rabat, the field should therefore be defined by mid-November.
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