European Leagues president Claudius Schafer has delivered a withering verdict on Gianni Infantino's leadership, declaring that the FIFA president has “no future at FIFA” — but insisting that reforming football's global governing body matters far more than simply replacing its leader.

In an exclusive interview with The Athletic, Schafer said the current crisis engulfing FIFA has been building for years because of Infantino's “increasingly centralised and personalised” approach to leadership and his total failure to consult with key stakeholders on decisions that impact clubs, fans, leagues and players around the world.

'His suitability to continue as president'

It was this refusal to consult that forced European Leagues, which represents the interests of 53 men's and women's professional leagues in 34 countries — including the so-called 'big five' — to lodge a formal complaint with the European Commission against FIFA for alleged breaches of European competition law. Almost two years on, Schafer is confident recent events will only bolster the leagues' case, making it almost certain the Brussels-based commission will open an investigation into FIFA's decision-making and governance.

“We are deeply concerned about his leadership. We question his suitability to continue as president,” Schafer said. “Here in Switzerland, we've had a close view of FIFA and it seems that the influence of the president has grown from year to year. Major decisions are taken without meaningful consultation with stakeholders who will be affected — that's why we've lodged our complaint with the European Commission over the international match calendar.”

The Swiss league administrator, a lawyer by training, pointed to a string of decisions he believes expose Infantino's overreach — from the controversial FIFA Peace Prize, awarded without consultation with the FIFA Council, to the red-card scandal involving U.S. striker Folarin Balogun at the World Cup.

“FIFA is an association under Swiss law and in this association you have rules. The president and the board members have to perform their duties with care. This is a legal matter. If you take such a decision (as the peace prize), without even informing the council — that, in my view, is a breach of law. And then, during the World Cup we all know about the red card issue. It was a real scandal. I can't ever recall a political intervention of this kind relating to a sporting matter. Such acts call the integrity of the game into question. That's why there is no future at FIFA for Infantino. There can't be.”

The FIFA Forward Enterprise fallout

Infantino was forced to reveal his secret FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) project a month ago, but only after it was leaked to the British media. The plan — which involved setting up a subsidiary to run FIFA's competitions and then selling a stake in that company to private investors — caused a global storm that has split FIFA's confederations and put Infantino's 10-year hold on power in serious doubt.

The last month has seen Infantino withdraw the sell-off idea and apologise for working on the plan for so long without sharing details with senior staff, council members or the member associations. The 56-year-old Swiss-Italian, however, has made clear he has no intention to quit and will stand for a fourth four-year term next March at FIFA's congress in Rabat. He has spent recent weeks travelling the globe to shore up support ahead of an electoral showdown with his main critics — the Asian, European and North and Central American confederations.

Schafer said his members are “fully in line” with the rebels and is confident they will put up a candidate who can beat Infantino. But he is more concerned about what comes next.

“The role and responsibilities of the FIFA president need to be redefined,” he said. “We were promised some reforms at FIFA after the arrests at the Baur au Lac in 2015 but then Gianni didn't follow through. Now, for us, getting these reforms is the most important task and they can only happen with another president.”

'We never have a president as powerful as this again'

The Baur au Lac reference relates to the arrests at the luxury Zurich hotel on the eve of the 2015 FIFA Congress, where Sepp Blatter was elected for a fifth term only to resign six months later, paving the way for Infantino's election as the organisation's saviour.

Asked whether he favoured reducing the power of the presidency by rotating it between the presidents of FIFA's six confederations — an idea gathering support — Schafer said he was happy to let the current debate play out but added there is a strong consensus that “we never have (a president) as powerful as this again”.

He is more interested in how FIFA itself responds to the crisis, particularly the 37-strong council that Infantino appears to have ignored for several years.

“I'm waiting for some action (from the council). Where are they? Is there a meeting planned?” he said.

The European Commission complaint

Schafer believes FIFA's refusal to deal with its obvious problems is even more baffling given the European Commission has been mulling whether to open an investigation into the governing body since October 2024. The catalyst for the unprecedented complaint was FIFA's decision to shoehorn an expanded Club World Cup into an already congested international match calendar — a clear case, in the leagues' view, of FIFA acting as regulator and competition organiser simultaneously, abusing a dominant market position.

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters echoed Schafer's frustrations last week.

“Leagues don't have a meaningful seat at the table at all. We're not consulted on the big decisions. We think that's wholly wrong and that's why we've regrettably had to put in a complaint at the European Commission,” said Masters, who took a diplomatic line on the timing: “The European Commission moves at its own pace. The European Leagues team is in pretty regular dialogue with the people there and at some point a decision will be made.”

Schafer is confident that decision will be positive for the leagues.

“We've had constructive meetings with key people in Brussels who are dealing with the complaint along with the Commissioner for Sport (Malta's Glenn Micallef). We've exposed FIFA's conflict of interest of being a regulator but also a commercial operator, and now everyone can see it. We have also had a series of decisions from the European Court of Justice that support our position. We wouldn't have done this if we didn't think we had a very strong case.”

He warned of serious financial consequences if the complaint succeeds.

“The commission can issue very high fines and that is money that belongs to FIFA's member associations,” Schafer said.

Domestic football at the heart of the game

While Schafer was reluctant to spell out exactly what a “meaningful voice” would entail, it is clear the leagues want a much bigger say over matters that directly impact the domestic game — and would ideally have a veto in such decisions.

“We expect to be part of the decision-making process. We want to be at the table. What that looks like in the end is to be decided. FIFA is still the global football regulator but, because of their double role, they must admit they need to include stakeholders in the decisions,” he said.

Asked if he feared Infantino might exploit the desire of big clubs to play in the Club World Cup to pressure the leagues into backing down, Schafer admitted the possibility is worrying.

“I think this is worrying and it's certainly something he has done in the past. But in this situation it's not just an issue for the big clubs – it's more about the functioning of the whole game. There are 1,300 clubs in our leagues. Domestic football is the basis of football. We are not against the Club World Cup. We are not against big clubs looking for ways to play international games. But it has to be in a fair and balanced way and FIFA has to take a more general view and play a more responsible role. It cannot pick sides.”

He returned to the game's fundamentals to make his point about the pyramid on which football rests.

“Let's go back to FIFA's statutes and look at its objectives. Yes, it should try to raise money for the associations so they can fund projects. But, first of all, you need the game as a whole to work together. Who is at the bottom of the pyramid? The grassroots game, then it's professional club football, then international football. We have lost sense of that pyramid.”

Player welfare concerns

Schafer also worries about the increasing strain new international tournaments are placing on the best players, and called for closer cooperation with global players' union FIFPro.

“Rest is really, really important and I'm happy to work on this with FIFPro. These new and enlarged competitions which require more dates are becoming impossible. And if you enlarge the Club World Cup and World Cup again, I'm wondering where you are taking the dates from? Sometimes, they'll say, 'the leagues should play fewer games, the Premier League should go to 18 teams.' But I'll say, 'you know the Premier League has been that size for decades, why is it fair for you to come up with new competitions but we have to cut ours?'”

The Athletic has contacted the European Commission and FIFA for comment.