Gianni Infantino. Photo: AFP/Getty Images
The Scandinavian federations backed the position of UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and CONCACAF, which had previously called on Infantino to resign, according to Reuters. They also called for an independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding the FIFA Forward Enterprise project—a proposal to transfer a share of the commercial rights to FIFA tournaments to private investors. The organization abandoned this idea after facing sharp criticism.
The federations demanded guarantees from FIFA that the organization’s management and the staging of its competitions would not be transferred to private hands. Separately, they called for an independent assessment of FIFA’s governance system to evaluate its transparency, accountability, and the effectiveness of its checks and balances.
Pressure on Infantino is mounting ahead of next year’s FIFA presidential election. He intends to run for a fourth term—through 2031. On Friday, the Danish Football Association announced its intention to find an alternative candidate.
Against this backdrop, regional soccer leaders are discussing the possibility of issuing a vote of no confidence against Infantino. CONCACAF President Victor Montagliani also urged him yesterday not to attend the youth tournament in the Dominican Republic, so that the political conflict surrounding FIFA’s leadership would not overshadow the competition.
FIFA has not yet commented on the joint statement by the Scandinavian associations.
