FIFA President Gianni Infantino brushed aside questions about stepping down and asserted Saturday that he retains the backing of the vast majority of world soccer bodies as he pursues another term at the helm of the global sport.
Speaking to the BBC in Baku, Azerbaijan, Infantino laughed off suggestions that he considered resigning following fierce pushback against his scrapped private investment initiative known as the FIFA Forward Enterprise project. That proposal, which sought to bring private equity investors into a separate commercial venture controlling tournament rights, sparked fierce resistance and demands for his ouster earlier this year.
Global Endorsements Shift the Race
Infantino, 56, insisted that international support remains firmly on his side ahead of the next presidential election scheduled for March, with the deadline for challengers to enter the contest falling on Nov. 18. No opponent has yet registered to run against him.
“I think what is important is that in an organisation like FIFA, there can be different views, different points of view,” Infantino told the BBC. “But if we are serious about democracy, about the democratic process, about believing that everyone has the same vote and the same voice all over the world, that football belongs to everyone, if we are serious about that, then we need to respect as well the views of the vast, vast majority.”
Infantino pointed to recent trips abroad to demonstrate his political strength. He highlighted an endorsement from the Asian Football Confederation on Friday in Tokyo, along with unanimous support pledged by Confederation of African Football members during a meeting in Cape Verde. AFC President Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa announced Friday that Asian soccer stood united behind Infantino, according to Al Jazeera English.
“It’s not always easy to bring them all under one roof, but we need to respect, and I do respect all opinions all views,” Infantino said. “Then, it will be up to the FIFA member associations to decide who they want as a president and how they want FIFA to be run.”
European Opposition and Legal Action
The Asian endorsement marks a sharp turnaround from months earlier, when the AFC joined European governing body UEFA and CONCACAF, the regional organization representing North America, Central America and the Caribbean, in signing a joint letter that sharply rebuked the administration. As reported by AFP and The Independent, the signatories accused Infantino of deception and stated that soccer “belongs to no individual.”
Although Infantino issued a formal apology at a FIFA Council meeting in Zurich last week for how the investment venture was managed, the gesture failed to mend rifts with powerful European federations, including those in England and Germany. Al Jazeera English reported that CONCACAF has since fractured over the dispute, while UEFA remains steadfastly opposed and is preparing to mount a legal challenge against Infantino in the United States, according to The Independent.
Infantino acknowledged the friction on Saturday, saying that greater dialogue is required to bridge the divide with European administrators while maintaining that divergent opinions are a routine aspect of governance.
“There is nothing bad in disagreeing, we see it every day in so many countries in the world,” Infantino said in remarks reported by The Independent. “It’s OK to disagree. It’s OK to have different points of view, but then we need to be able to move on.”
Infantino delivered the remarks during the kickoff of FIFA’s Under-15 World Cup in Baku. That competition includes youth squads from 189 member associations, among them Russia, which made its first return to a FIFA-sanctioned tournament since the country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Soccer officials now await the Nov. 18 filing deadline to see whether any candidate will emerge from Europe or elsewhere to challenge Infantino’s bid for a fourth term, which would extend his leadership through 2031.
