European football leaders confident of finding candidate to stand against Infantino

Europe confident of finding a challenger to Infantino

European football leaders are increasingly confident they will find a candidate to stand against Gianni Infantino in next year's Fifa presidential election. One European football association head told the Guardian they were “positive” that Infantino will face an opponent in March, a sentiment echoed by senior figures at Uefa and other national associations ahead of Thursday's crucial meeting of the Fifa council.

Uefa, Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation have made clear they will oppose Infantino's re-election bid in the wake of the World Cup sell-off scandal. However, they have been unable to coalesce around a credible candidate before the 18 November deadline for nominations to be submitted to Fifa.

The respective presidents of the three continental confederations, Aleksander Ceferin, Victor Montagliani and Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa, have ruled themselves out. Suggestions that high-profile figures such as Arsène Wenger or Michele Kang could put themselves forward have been dismissed.

Figo mentioned as possible name

The former Portugal international Luis Figo, the first former player to call on Infantino to stand down in August, has also been mentioned. However, he is also regarded as a potential Uefa president when Ceferin's final term finishes in 2031.

Rebels say they are making progress

Despite the seemingly limited pool of candidates, sources with knowledge of the anti-Infantino lobby's plans are adamant they are making progress. One source said whoever emerges will leave it until close to the deadline to publicly declare their hand, to reduce the time for Fifa to scupper their nomination.

The rebels believe the Fifa machine is being commandeered to support Infantino's re-election campaign.

Council to question Infantino

Infantino will be grilled by members of the 37-strong Fifa council on a range of subjects, including the abandoned Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) plan, the Fifa peace prize and the Folarin Balogun affair. In the latter, Fifa's disciplinary committee overturned the US striker's suspension during the World Cup, a decision that followed an intervention from Donald Trump. The recipient of the inaugural Fifa peace prize was Trump.

Reform proposal to pre-empt criticism

In an attempt to pre-empt criticism of the Balogun decision, Infantino has proposed an amendment that would remove the disciplinary committee's option to revoke one-match bans received by players shown a straight red card.

Infantino has also pledged to present a full report on FFE on Thursday, although, in a break from usual practice, that report has not been shared with members in advance.

Background

Earlier reporting from September 2026 said that Infantino was closing in on an unopposed fourth term, with dozens of the 200 member associations that had endorsed him withdrawing their letters of support after the FFE sale plan emerged in July. That reporting, published on 23 September 2026, described the prevailing view that the silent majority remained behind him.