The pressure is growing on the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, with many countries withdrawing their support following the bungled World Cup sell-off. However, how key is Infantino’s relationship with each confederation and is it likely that an election contest will actually happen? We look at the key considerations, confederation by confederation.
1) How does each confederation view Infantino’s re-election?
Uefa (Europe) has firmly led the moves under way to achieve Infantino’s removal. The threat last week to boycott all Fifa competitions if the Fifa Forward Enterprise scheme was not scrapped contributed hugely to its failure. In a scathing statement on Saturday, Uefa said the current Fifa leadership had “not only lost Uefa’s confidence, but also that of many other members of the football family”, and pledged to push for change. Some Uefa member associations, including the English and Welsh FAs, have withdrawn their letters of support for Infantino’s re‑election and efforts are continuing to ensure others follow suit in a bid to weaken his position irretrievably. Nick Ames
Reports of AFC (Asia) support for Uefa are premature; the confederation is divided. The AFC has spoken out, strongly in relative terms compared to its usual pronouncements, against the proposed World Cup deal and has called for reform of Fifa. The AFC has been a staunch supporter in the past but if it looks as if Infantino is in trouble the AFC leadership, which was genuinely angry at how the proposal was made (probably more so than the actual details of the deal), could switch sides, which would probably confirm Infantino’s downfall if Uefa and Concacaf oppose but it is not a foregone conclusion – some in Asia are not convinced that Uefa has the numbers. The big problem is that, while the AFC leadership may want Infantino out, most individual Asian federations do not want him to be replaced. The AFC president, Sheikh Salman, has ambitions of his own and has been historically successful at preserving AFC unity but this will be tricky especially as west Asian nations such as Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia support Infantino and are influential in Asia. It could be that the only way to ensure Asian unity is to have an Asian candidate. Jordan’s Prince Ali bin Hussein’s claim of “blackmail” could prove a significant moment, however. John Duerden
Concacaf (North and Central America, and the Caribbean) is among the confederations that have come out strongly against Infantino and his FFE proposal, first directly rejecting it and then releasing a statement after it was withdrawn that took direct aim at Infantino. A release speaking on behalf of Concacaf’s 41 member associations called the plan “a symptom of leadership that has stopped putting football first”, and a “unilateral and egregious act of poor governance and leadership” and said that “a comprehensive reckoning with this presidency is imperative”.
That is about as direct a call for no confidence in Infantino as you are likely to get outside of an election itself. It should be noted, of course, that the Concacaf president, Victor Montagliani, is also a Fifa vice-president and would be a leading candidate to run for president should there be a united desire among confederations to oust Infantino. Montagliani has kept silent on the subject when asked in the past but this statement, which speaks for him, shows at the very least he is not immune to the idea of going against Infantino. Alexander Abnos
Patrice Motsepe, president of the Confederation of African Football, has said the 54 member associations are in unanimous support of Infantino’s re-election in Morocco next year. Osasu Obayiuwana
Since the rumpus over Infantino’s proposed FFE broke and died, the South American confederation, Conmebol, has been notably silent. Its president, Alejandro Domínguez, has been posting birthday wishes to individuals, clubs and institutions from Uruguay where he is visiting ahead of the 2030 centenary of the first World Cup. Unlike Uefa, Concacaf and the AFC, which publicly opposed Fifa’s aborted FFE proposal, Conmebol took several days before issuing a fence-sitting statement stressing football first, and requesting further information and clarification. That was the only official response at all, and there has been absolute silence since.
“Conmebol’s current position is best described as cautious support rather than open confrontation,” says Marina Mendez, a director of AD Sporting Industry Professionals and a friend of Conmebol who consults on football in the region. “The distinction is politically significant. It suggests Conmebol wants to preserve its institutional relationship with Fifa and maintain room for negotiation, rather than join a public campaign against Infantino. This should not necessarily be interpreted as unconditional personal loyalty. Conmebol’s approach is pragmatic: it is protecting South American football’s access, influence and negotiating position within Fifa while assessing how the international balance of power develops.”
Brazil and Argentina are the main countries, and Domínguez looks after the relationship with both, with most of the other countries expected to follow suit. “They are not federations likely to confront Infantino directly because they will always prefer to be on the right side of the non-Europeans,” says an industry insider who does not wish to be named. Marcela Mora y Araujo
It remains to be seen what the 11 Oceania Football Confederation member associations will do. New Zealand, the leading member of the confederation, was quick to come out against the World Cup proposal – though the reaction of the OFC itself was noncommittal – and there is still support for Infantino among the other federations. John Duerden
2) What are the historical links to Infantino?
Uefa The parties go back a long way. Infantino was Uefa’s secretary general from 2009 until 2016 and it backed him strongly when he first ran for the Fifa presidency. But there has long been push and pull between the global governing body and that of football’s most powerful continent. Relations have deteriorated in recent years, Uefa fending off Infantino-led initiatives such as a biennial staging of the World Cup and a proposed investment in 2018 by SoftBank. Things appeared to reach a head in May 2025 when delegates from several European federations walked out of Fifa’s annual congress in protest at Infantino’s late arrival. They accused him of pursuing “private political interests”. That turned out to be the tip of the iceberg. The past year’s near-interminable list of Fifa-related controversies have further ensured that the differences between the two are irreconcilable. NA
AFC It has been a close relationship, Salman and AFC have backed Infantino since he beat Salman in the 2016 election. It is not just about money either, though this is of course important. He is seen as approachable, available and open. Fifa has historically been seen as a European (and to a lesser extent South American) institution in Asia, and while Infantino is from Uefa, he is seen as a leader who gives equal weight to all. One president said to me that in the past, conversations with Fifa were like receiving decrees from above but now there is a genuine dialogue. World Cup expansion has gone down well, 64 teams would be welcomed too, and there are more tournaments held in Asia these days. Infantino has already been reminding Asia about this. JD
Concacaf Infantino’s most direct relationship has been as the president under whom the World Cup was awarded to the US, Mexico and Canada, after a bid from the US lost out to Qatar for the 2022 hosting rights. Aside from that, there was not much of a direct, historic relationship between Infantino and Concacaf – at least, not until the letter released by the confederation over the weekend. AA
CAF Infantino’s association with African football began in 2016, when he backed Ahmad Ahmad of Madagascar to topple the late Issa Hayatou as CAF president in March 2017. Being an eyewitness to that election, at the African Union HQ in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, I recall the anger with which Hayatou confronted Infantino and Fatma Samoura, then Fifa secretary general, over their involvement in an election.
Infantino, under Ahmad’s ill-fated four-year tenure between 2017 and 2021 – which ended in his untimely removal from office over ethics violations – got Fifa to take over the daily administration of the CAF from August to December 2019, with Samoura going to Egypt to take charge of the organisation. Many in African football saw this as a neo-colonial act and a direct violation of the CAF’s autonomy and independence. Infantino was involved in the ascension of Motsepe to the presidency in March 2021. OO
Conmebol Along comes Infantino, the Uefa salvation who promises an anti-corruption ticket. After Julio Grondona’s death, an AFA (Argentina Football Association) election found more votes than members and Fifa intervened, naming a committee of industry insiders to oversee a cleansing of the house. Infantino was present in the AFA headquarters at its inaugural press conference. Imagine Infantino launching an English FA governance intervention.
In 2018, in Buenos Aires for a Libertadores final to be played by two clubs from the same city for the first time in Argentina’s history (policing was a mess and fan violence before the second leg led to its suspension and eventual move to Madrid) Infantino was invited by the then president of Argentina, Mauricio Macri, to be guest of honour at the G20 held in the city later that week.
Infantino, as we know him today is created then, photographed gifting football shirts to the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and Donald Trump, POTUS at the time. “Yes, that G20 was key for Infantino, because he’d inherited a corruption scandal. He needed to instil the belief that football would cease to be a mafia, that he would achieve this. And he managed,” Macri, now president of the Fifa Foundation, told the Guardian: “From an ethical point of view he is impeccable. There is nothing odd in Fifa today, Fifa manages fortunes, more than ever, because Infantino is successful; he organises competitions that are more and more profitable, and it’s all above board. I should say the same applies to Conmebol.”
The Conmebol president, Nicolás Leoz, fell in the same Fifagate swoop, although he had left office in 2013. A series of interim and short-lived presidencies ensued until January 2016 when current president Domínguez took his post. Unanimously voted in by the 10 member associations, he pushed for every professional club to have a female team and introduced “hydration” breaks before this World Cup, albeit less structured ones. Infantino has also maintained a functional and stable relationship with the AFA president, Claudio “Chiqu” Tapia. “This relationship is politically relevant because Macri has been an opponent of “Chiqui” Tapia,” Mendez says. “This demonstrates Infantino’s ability to maintain links with both sides of Argentine football’s internal power structure.” Tapia was approached for comment. MMA
OFC Like Asia, Infantino has worked hard to build relationships both of the personal and financial kind. It is common to hear officials describe him as a friend. The expansion of the World Cup to 48 teams finally gave Oceania an automatic World Cup spot – something that Fifa had promised in the past but never delivered. And the idea of having more spots in a 64-team competition was also attractive. Under Infantino, New Zealand co-hosted the Women’s World Cup with Australia. Fifa also supported the establishment of the Oceania Professional League that kicked off in January to provide much-needed pro club football for the region. JD
3) How financially dependent is the confederation on Infantino and Fifa?
Uefa Not at all. While the World Cup is Fifa’s most essential driver of revenue, Uefa can lay claim, among other things, to the highly lucrative Champions League and the vast sums that it attracts on an annual basis. Expanding its tournaments and staging them more often is one of the only ways available for Fifa to keep pace. Private investment would not harm its cause, either. Uefa’s annual revenues have recently totalled around double those of Fifa; as things stand football’s powerhouse can cope perfectly well on its own. NA
AFC Like always in Asia, it varies. There are rich federations on either side of the continent but in between there are some that are almost completely dependent on Fifa money. Bhutan, for example, gets $1.5m a year, which makes up the majority of its budget. Even Australia, which has reached the knockout stages of the past two World Cups, has lost around $17m over the past two years, which may explain its rather vague statement calling for more time when the plan was first heard. JD
Concacaf This is a very top‑heavy confederation, perhaps more so than any other in the world. The US and Mexico have been regional powers for most of the past 30‑40 years, and recently Canada has shown signs it can compete on the field and is addressing business issues off of it. Just below them is a middle class consisting of Panama, Jamaica, Costa Rica and Honduras. The remaining 33 Concacaf nations are fairly small by comparison, and thus naturally more reliant on funding from Fifa via the forward programme and other initiatives. The fact that smaller Caribbean nations feel empowered to join with the big dogs says a lot about how at risk they feel they may be without Infantino at Fifa’s helm. AA
CAF The confederation funds activities from its own commercial revenue, so it is not dependent on Fifa and Infantino in that sense. But the majority of CAF’s 54 member associations are financially challenged and are dependent on the annual grants that the world governing body gives them to meet their operating costs. OO
Conmebol It represents only 10 nation members. Variations among them notwithstanding, the federations are self-sufficient economically and their local leagues are attractive and profitable. Their national teams are the No 1 sporting attraction, pulling in vast numbers of fans who are emotionally attached to their heroes, who in turn love to play for their country. The main sources of revenue for clubs are TV rights, marketing and the sale of players. For this, the top market is the Premier League (which operates entirely outside the FA and therefore Fifa) and the other European leagues, which are also largely independent of their FAs. Montevideo has produced more World Cup players than any other city in history, so even a financially struggling association such as Uruguay’s continues to rely more on the income from the development of youth talent than Fifa aid. There were six Argentinian managers with extensive international trajectories at this World Cup. Exporting home‑grown talent, of which there is plenty, is a bigger source of revenue than Fifa project distribution funds. Two of the most colourful stories of the World Cup, the Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha and the New Zealand defender Tim Payne, transferred to Chilean and Paraguayan clubs respectively following their popularity during the tournament. Popularity due in no small part to the efforts of streamers and influencers from Argentina and Brazil. MMA
OFC Oceania is made up of small federations that tend to be reliant on what Fifa gives them. So the recent World Cup proposal would, had it gone through, have made a huge difference financially. JD
4) Would a breakaway cause an existential threat?
Uefa Europe has the strongest club and international teams in the world. Parting ways from Infantino and Fifa would be unlikely to cause serious damage, although it could cause issues with clubs who have been looking to expand their global reach through the revamped Club World Cup. It is plausible that bigger teams from other continents would seek to join forces with Uefa and compete in new tournaments given the kudos and financial opportunities available when competing with the majority of the sport’s giants. NA
AFC It is a generalisation but, in Asia, Fifa as an institution does not make the headlines that it does in western Europe. Usually, interest in a country comes when they are affected specifically by a decision, as when bidding for a tournament. In my experience, there just isn’t the same interest in the day‑to‑day running of the organisation. Breaking with Infantino would not be a massive threat to Asia but there is some concern about a return to a more Europe‑dominated Fifa, if that were to materialise. While pretty much everyone has supported Infantino from 2016 until the past few days, Asian federations that have done so are seen in some quarters as being corrupt and/or greedy but the Europeans, who did exactly the same, are now trying to paint themselves as the moral guardians of the sport. JD
Concacaf If a breakaway would cause an existential threat, then Concacaf is living it right now. One could certainly read it as a principled stand, but it’s hard to separate the confederation’s statement with Montagliani’s current position as Infantino’s most likely successor, should the latter need to stand down. AA
CAF The relationship between Infantino and Africa’s 54 national associations is largely seen as a “master-servant” one, in which he basically tells the FA/federation heads, through Fifa officials, to do his bidding. Those who do not toe the political line of Zurich, as decided by Infantino, may well end up having their books audited over how they have spent their Fifa grants. Many FA/federation presidents faced Fifa ethics proceedings and subsequent bans as a result. OO
Conmebol “There’s no morality involved, just politics,” the industry insider says. Mendez concurs: “It’s not a simple case of morality, it’s a power struggle and a rupture in perspectives about football in general and the business of football in particular. Today, Eurocentrism is dominating, and things like sponsored hydration breaks and Super Bowl-style half-time shows impose a North American regard hitherto unseen.” MMA
OFC Oceania welcomed the fact that Infantino had a “global” mentality and went out of his way to engage with smaller nations far from the centre of global football power. If the confederation does break away, it would want something similar in the opposition candidate and not a return to the old days when the confederation was an afterthought in the corridors of power. JD
5) How important is the current and historical relationship?
A strong relationship between Uefa and Fifa would make for a far more harmonious global football scene but, as described above, there is huge work to do before that can be repaired. NA
It’s very important – barring some new organisation stepping in to run world football in a better way, Fifa is Concacaf’s best link to the traditional power centres of world football. The US, Mexico and Canada derive a lot of their value as federations from how they’ve been able to perform at men’s and women’s World Cups – that’s not something they’ll want to give up lightly, which is perhaps why they did not threaten a boycott the way Uefa did. AA
CAF Africa’s political power within Fifa began to rise in 1974, when João Havelange successfully courted the continent as a block and made it an important pillar of his electoral victory over Sir Stanley Rous in Germany, becoming the first and only non-European, to date, to be Fifa president. Sepp Blatter, Havelange’s successor in 1998, also leveraged Africa’s support in a similar fashion to defeat the Uefa president Lennart Johansson. Delivering on his promise to the continent that it would host a World Cup during his presidency, which South Africa did in 2010, bolstered his popularity and support base on the continent. But the last 10 years of the Infantino presidency have made many resent the undue influence of the world governing body in Africa’s affairs. OO
Conmebol Fifa as we know it was essentially invented, developed and moulded by the Brazil and Argentina federation presidents Havelange and Grondona respectively. They specifically wanted to break Europe’s stronghold. Initially, they started funding grassroots via “partnerships” with big brands, which benefited from reaching wider markets. A vivid example is the giant sign with a Coca-Cola bottle on every corner of the pitch, seen in places such as Russia and China where advertising was otherwise prohibited, every single time a corner kick was awarded. After Havelange’s time at the helm was up, Blatter took the lead. Blatter kept Grondona close by, his right-hand man, while the business venture grew and grew, and places for other confederations increased. When Fifagate blew up, most leaders close to the top faced trials and disgrace; Grondona was saved by death.
Infantino’s reign was a continuation of keeping Conmebol as a key ally. The historic power derived from on-the-pitch success in the region, and the crown jewel that is Lionel Messi, have contributed to keeping the small confederation big. “The relationship is neither purely personal nor purely institutional. It is built on mutual strategic value,” says Mendez. “The coming election will be Uefa versus footballistic populism,” the industry source said. “Conmebol owns Fifa.” MMA
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