Calls for FIFA President Gianni Infantino's Removal Amid Governance Crisis

There is no time to dance around the subject. Gianni Infantino must stand down as Fifa president or otherwise be legally removed. No fresh chances can be made available for an official who has demolished trust in football’s integrity and governance, trashing all remaining credibility of the body that oversees the world’s most-cherished sport.

Infantino was forced into a humiliating climbdown on Saturday morning when he accepted the failure of his plan to sell off portions of the World Cup to private investment. He resolved to resume dialogue about football’s growth “in the spirit of shared interest in our game”. But such a naked attempt to save his own skin cannot hold. Every day Infantino remains in power is a fresh stain on an institution whose reputation is on the floor.

The overreach involved in unilaterally launching the Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) scheme – with its vision to place huge influence on football’s future in the palms of venture capitalists – would be enough to bring down most leaders. But Infantino’s rap sheet goes far beyond that. He has routinely made a mockery of Fifa’s own statutes and governance regulations, so nobody should be surprised that patience has finally snapped in corridors of power globally. Fifa’s “football unites the world” slogan has never looked more empty.

Article 10.3 of those regulations, which specifically pertains to the presidency, requires the incumbent to ensure “Fifa’s objectives, mission, strategic direction, policies and values are sustainably pursued, protected and implemented, and that a positive image of Fifa is fostered”. It stipulates “promoting friendly and peaceful relations within Fifa”, which is a nonsense given the degree to which federations and senior personnel have distanced themselves from Infantino in recent days.

The rules give no green light to the pursuit of multiple private projects that, most recently in lockstep with the current US administration or its tributaries, have been tabled with scant appetite for oversight or explanation.

Where to begin? The Folarin Balogun saga tipped many leading figures in football, particularly in Europe, towards the edge. There had already been widespread bafflement and disgust at Infantino’s presentation of the new Fifa peace prize to Donald Trump in December, with little background given about the process and highly contestable information provided about the US president’s qualifying achievements. Stakeholders were frustrated by a lack of consultation about the introduction of “hydration breaks”, which fundamentally toyed with the fabric of matches at this summer’s World Cup.

The bizarre expedited bidding process for the 2034 tournament, which resulted in Saudi Arabia’s candidature being waved through in December 2024, also brought widespread criticism. This list only covers the past 20 months of controversies inflicted by Infantino, capped on Friday by revelations that plans for a 64-team World Cup are in full swing.

When a scathing statement from Uefa on Saturday called for an end to “secret schemes on fast track timescales, cooked up by faceless individuals and of dubious benefit to the game”, it was not only referring to the FFE project and its casual sidelining of other decision makers within Fifa.

A critical mass has been reached. Uefa took a decisive lead in following more than a year of harsh words with strong, united action in pledging to boycott future Fifa tournaments if Infantino did not withdraw his plan. It undoubtedly influenced the outcome and the Uefa president, Aleksander Ceferin, secured an achievement that may define his own reign. But it will mean nothing if Infantino, who is understood to have deployed a major consultancy to smooth relations with federations in recent days, is given the oxygen to dangle fresh promises and turn heads back towards the status quo.

There is an acknowledgment within Uefa and beyond that the pace must not let up. Senior figures are adamant Infantino must not survive the current scandal. Some insiders feel a crucial next step will be for member associations, the overwhelming majority of whom had formally pledged their support for Infantino’s re-election next March, to recall those letters.

Doing so requires a request to Fifa but could, in sufficient numbers, be a de facto vote of no confidence in Infantino. Fifa had lobbied aggressively for those submissions but many FAs would now be red faced if their expression of fealty towards Infantino was more widely publicised.

Member associations have a duty not to shrink in staving off existential threats to their sport otherwise they, like Infantino, are doing it an egregious disservice. Backing away now would mean leaving the job half done at best.

Uefa have pledged to devise a new method for distributing Fifa’s wealth, delving into its multibillion cash reserves without “selling the family silver”. Behind the scenes it continues to work with other confederations in an effort to find credible candidates for Infantino’s replacement, with a view to running in the election should the Swiss hold on until then. The present crisis can be used to reshape football for the better but only if Infantino is not in situ to impose the final say.

The alternative is that Fifa, and by extension the game, continue lurching from one disaster to the next. It is no laughing matter when the public conversation around football centres on one man, his ego and brazen ventures.