Fifa president Gianni Infantino arrived for the World Cup final on 19 July, a moment that appeared to underline how far and how fast his influence had reached. Less than two weeks later, he is facing intense scrutiny after abandoning controversial plans to sell stakes in Fifa competitions to private investment, prompting questions over whether this is the start of the end of his presidency and, if so, who could replace him.
Infantino has been condemned by UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham and criticised by fans, but those can be treated as familiar hazards of the job. More serious are the threats from Uefa, which has warned of a boycott of Fifa competitions, a stance reinforced by Concacaf (North and Central America and the Caribbean) and the AFC (Asia).
Those three bodies have, in different ways, delivered a sharp assessment of how Fifa is being run under Infantino.
"This issue extends far beyond a single proposal," said the AFC. "Rather, it has exposed fundamental weaknesses in Fifa's consultation and decision-making processes that must now be addressed."
Sources say that, beyond rejecting Infantino's plan, the vast majority of Concacaf members are either losing faith in the Fifa president's ability to govern the game, or have lost it altogether.
On top of that, Carlos Cordeiro, special adviser to Infantino and appointed by Donald Trump as senior adviser to the White House Task Force on the 2026 World Cup, has resigned. Fifa's chief operating officer Kevin Lamour said in a statement to Associated Press that Fifa's own administration was
"deceived"about the project. has approached Fifa for comment.
The pressure on Infantino has therefore intensified sharply, but whether it is enough to end his tenure remains uncertain.
Might Infantino really go?
It is wise to be realistic before assuming a leadership change is imminent. Speaking to earlier this week, former Football Association chairman David Bernstein said that in a normal organisation Infantino might have been removed for backing down over an issue of this magnitude, but Fifa does not operate like a normal organisation.
"In a normal organisation, if he has to back down due to something of this magnitude he'd probably be shown the door.
"But Fifa is not a normal organisation. If he has the support of enough of the national associations, he will continue."
Former Fifa vice-president Jim Boyce said he believes Infantino will
"still have enough support"to be re-elected, though he added that if the current pace of events continues,
"who knows?"
Boyce added:
"If I was a betting man, which I'm not, I would still bet he will get his final four-year term."
Infantino has been Fifa president since 2016. Before that, he spent seven years as secretary general of Uefa, and few people know the map of football politics better than him. Now 56, he won the presidency by defeating Asian Football Confederation president Sheikh Salman al-Khalifa by 115 votes to 88, with the task of cleaning up an organisation tainted by corruption allegations after the resignation of his predecessor Sepp Blatter. Blatter was cleared of corruption charges last year.
"I will work tirelessly to bring football back to Fifa and Fifa back to football,"
Infantino said at the time.
He has twice been re-elected unopposed, and it was widely expected the same would happen again next March. That would not be unusual in the history of the post: Blatter was unopposed in 2007 and 2011, while Brazilian Joao Havelange was the last person to unseat a Fifa president in an election when he defeated Sir Stanley Rous in 1974. No one opposed Havelange for five straight terms until he resigned in 1998, aged 82.
Letters of support for Infantino's re-election have already been submitted. Whether they will now be withdrawn is an open question, and knows of at least one Uefa member that has withdrawn its letter as the week’s drama has unfolded.
Who might replace him?
If Infantino were to lose support or stand aside, several possible successors would emerge from football’s political landscape.
Victor Montagliani, the Concacaf president, has similar reform credentials to Infantino and was elected in 2016 with promises of better governance. A former president of Canada Soccer, Montagliani served as co-chair and was heavily involved in the build-up to and delivery of the 2026 World Cup, the first to be hosted by three nations. He speaks French, Italian and Spanish as well as English.
Explaining why he ran for the Concacaf presidency, Montagliani told the BC Business website:
"Like anything, when I decide to go, I go. I campaigned on my own dime for three months, went to see all 41 countries, from the US to Bonaire, a little island off Venezuela."
Montagliani took the lead when Concacaf hosted an expanded Copa America in 2024. In an interview with he rejected the idea that it could become a regular event. He is politically strong, smoothed relations around Arsene Wenger's attempt to build support for a World Cup every two years, and has never truly embraced the idea of a 64-team World Cup.
At the Leaders conference in 2025, he explained why he thought football would be able to withstand turbulence.
"The game is bigger than world current leaders,"
he said.
"Football will survive regimes. Does it cause a headache? Of course. You have to be realistic about that. That is the beauty of our game, it is bigger than any individual and country."
Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, the AFC president, was initially elected in 2013 and has now been elected unopposed for a fourth term to run to 2027. The Bahraini has overseen significant growth in Asia through the Champions League Elite, Champions League Two, the Challenge League and the Women's Champions League, which launched in 2024-25. The Asian Cup has also been expanded to 24 teams.
Sheikh Salman signed off the blunt criticism of how Fifa is being run by Infantino, and he carries the backing of a 46-member confederation, many of whom understand that the sums being offered by Infantino's plan are enormous compared with their overall football spending.
Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the PSG president and chair of European Football Clubs (EFC), is another possibility. Formerly known as the European Clubs' Association, the group was taken over by Al-Khelaifi after the other seismic event that threatened to split the game, the failed European Super League, which collapsed within 48 hours in 2021.
Al-Khelaifi oversaw the name change to European Football Clubs and expanded the organisation to more than 800 members. Of the biggest clubs, only Real Madrid remain outside it.
In theory, the Qatari would be a serious challenger to Infantino, but there is a strong sense that he does not want the role. A source close to the 52-year-old said when asked on Thursday:
"He genuinely, genuinely, genuinely doesn't want the job,"
Mattias Grafstrom, Fifa's secretary general, is also being mentioned as a potential successor. Appointed in May 2024 and increasingly influential around the Fifa table, he became Infantino's chief of staff after his election as president in 2016.
Grafstrom, who is multi-lingual, was another highly visible presence at the World Cup. However, he could be seen as too close to Infantino, and the general feeling that Fifa's next president needs to be a non-European may also count against him.
Fifa's next president will be confirmed at the organisation's 77th Congress in Morocco next March. Candidates have until 18 November to put their names forward.
Key Facts
- Gianni Infantino has been Fifa president since 2016 and has twice been re-elected unopposed.
- Uefa, Concacaf and the AFC have all criticised Fifa's governance after the collapse of a private investment plan.
- Potential successors include Victor Montagliani, Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, Nasser Al-Khelaifi and Mattias Grafstrom.
- The next Fifa president will be confirmed at the 77th Congress in Morocco next March.
- Candidates have until 18 November to declare.
Victor Montagliani has emerged as one of the possible figures who could succeed Infantino. The Concacaf president, shown consoling Lionel Messi after Argentina's World Cup final defeat by Spain, has been central to the 2026 World Cup's organisation and is seen as politically well connected.
Nasser Al-Khelaifi, pictured with manager Luis Enrique after PSG's Champions League final victory over Arsenal in May, is another name under discussion. He leads European Football Clubs and has expanded the organisation significantly, though sources say he does not want the Fifa role.
