Gianni Infantino is facing the gravest challenge of his presidency in almost 10 years, with football officials and commercial experts believing the Confederation of African Football (CAF) could determine whether the FIFA leader remains in office.
The turmoil began after plans emerged on Tuesday for FIFA to secure as much as $4.2 billion from private investors, placing a $20 billion valuation on the governing body. The proposal included the creation of a commercial arm, FIFA Forward Enterprise, which would oversee major competitions such as the World Cup and Club World Cup. It also envisaged a single payment of $20 million to each of FIFA’s 211 member associations. Infantino abandoned the initiative on Saturday following a wave of criticism, while UEFA and CONCACAF both declared that their confidence in his leadership had been lost.
Michael Payne, formerly the International Olympic Committee’s marketing director, said the episode had severely weakened Infantino’s position. He described the president’s leadership as “radioactive” and suggested that keeping his job through the month would be difficult.
Terrence Burns, a specialist in World Cup bidding, said the decisive question was likely to be CAF’s stance rather than the position of any single confederation. FIFA’s member associations cast their ballots separately, meaning the continental bodies do not vote as unified blocs. In Burns’ view, Infantino could survive resistance from Europe, Asia and North and Central America as long as Africa continued to back him. But he warned: “If CAF moves, it’s game over.”
Burns added that the president no longer enjoyed the inevitability that helped him secure uncontested victories in the 2019 and 2023 elections. Potential rivals may now be encouraged to enter the race before nominations close on 18 November, ahead of the election in Rabat.
Claudius Schaefer, who leads the European Leagues organisation representing 53 professional men’s and women’s competitions, separately argued that Infantino’s position appeared impossible to sustain. Schaefer, who is also chief executive of the Swiss Football League, said the investment proposal had been prepared without the awareness of FIFA’s principal oversight bodies, including the FIFA Council. He also criticised what he saw as an attempt to increase income by staging a greater number of larger tournaments, warning that such an approach would damage domestic leagues and further overload an international schedule that is already congested.
