Uefa to press for removal of Gianni Infantino after ending boycott
On 26 August 2026 Uefa said it will continue to press for the removal of Fifa president Gianni Infantino despite withdrawing its threat to boycott Fifa competitions, with the official end of the boycott to be confirmed at Uefa's executive committee meeting in Monaco.
Fifty-five Uefa member associations, together with Europe’s members on the Fifa Council, will on Thursday be presented with a letter that guarantees the Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) plan will not be revived, Uefa said. That assurance will satisfy Uefa’s demands and allow the Fifa Under-20 Women's World Cup to go ahead next week in Poland with six European teams. Six European teams — England, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain and hosts Poland — are scheduled to play in the tournament.
Uefa remains confident a unity candidate can be found to oppose Infantino when he is up for re-election in March, BBC Sport understands. Any successful candidate would need the backing of 106 of the 211 member associations to win the presidency. Uefa has abandoned the idea of attempting a vote of no confidence because that would require three quarters of member associations, 159 votes, a threshold considered unrealistic.
No candidate has yet been identified, though Concacaf president Victor Montagliani is regarded as a serious option. Nominations must be submitted by 18 November. BBC Sport understands that any vote is expected to be close, and for that reason even if Infantino was to win it could cause terminal damage to his presidency, with his legitimacy compromised.
Last month European football's 55 member associations voted to boycott all Fifa competitions until the FFE proposal was dropped "in its entirety and binding assurances have been given that Fifa will never again open its governance or competitions to private ownership". That collective action prompted the negotiations that led to the guarantee on the FFE plan now being presented to associations. The withdrawal of the boycott followed Uefa's insistence that the FFE proposal be removed entirely.
After the boycott was dropped, Fifa welcomed the development, saying it is "pleased that all qualified teams will be participating in the upcoming Under-20 Women's World Cup". A Fifa spokesperson said it "strongly believes that football has the power to unite, even in challenging circumstances" and Fifa "remains committed" to developing the game in "full dialogue with the confederations and stakeholders".
A group of former players published a statement on Tuesday saying "change is necessary" at the head of Fifa. Former Manchester United and France defender Mikael Silvestre, who sits on Fifa's Players' Voice Panel, issued a statement on X on Monday in a post he titled "Enough is Enough!", which was shared by England defender Lucy Bronze, France's 1998 World Cup winner Emmanuel Petit and former England goalkeeper David James. On Wednesday a different group of former players, including Cafu, Christian Vieri, Pepe and Esteban Cambiasso, posted supportive messages for Infantino on social media; all of those players are officially recognised as Fifa Legends. Vieri's statement said: "Over the past 10 years, we have seen the work Fifa and President Infantino have done to create representativity for players in football, which did not exist. "We will remain available to support the great evolution our game has seen this past decade, so that it keeps reaching and benefiting people of every country that plays football all around the world."
Nominations for the Fifa presidency close on 18 November and the incumbent goes before member associations in the scheduled re-election in March, when any challenger would need the support of 106 of the 211 associations to secure the presidency.