Mexico and Argentina’s football associations are the latest to have thrown their support behind embattled FIFA president Gianni Infantino despite his botched World Cup stake sale plans.
On Wednesday night, Infantino was also given the “full support” of FIFA’s management board in a statement despite being forced to abandon his plan to sell stakes in a company to run the World Cup to private investors.
African football’s governing body, CAF – a long-time supporter of Infantino – “unanimously reconfirmed” its support for the president and went as far as thanking him “for his contribution to African football” as well as endorsing the statement released by FIFA.
Argentina’s Football Association (AFA) expressed its support for FIFA’s work over the last 10 years in a letter to Infantino, saying it had “centred on the development of soccer worldwide and institutional strength based on a clear, stable and transparent governance model”.
Meanwhile, the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) has broken ranks with its own regional confederation, CONCACAF, by backing Infantino.
However, that has done little to stem the tide of criticism facing the president, with:
UEFA reiterating its previously threatened boycott of FIFA tournaments and again demanding Infantino’s resignation.
The FA formally withdrawing its support for his re-election in March 2027.
South American governing body CONMEBOL condemning FIFA’s disregard for its own principles, saying: “When football loses, we all lose.”
The numbers game… what happens next?
If Infantino continues to refuse to resign, his survival will depend on a numbers game – and the magic number is 106.
There are 211 FAs which make up FIFA and need 20 per cent of them (43 FAs) are needed to call for an Emergency FIFA Congress. At the Congress, a vote of no confidence could be held in Infantino – and if a majority of 106 votes is reached, he is out.
Here are the sizes of each confederation and the number of members/votes they have:
UEFA: 55
CAF (Africa): 54
AFC (Asia): 47
CONCACAF (North and Central America, Caribbean): 35
CONMEBOL (South America): 10
OFC (Oceania): 10
UEFA has to be confident of getting to 106 before it calls for an Emergency Congress, otherwise Infantino could win any confidence vote and strengthen his position.
UEFA members of the FIFA Council could also call an Emergency Council meeting and force him out with a no confidence vote. There are 37 members of the Council, including nine from UEFA.
Infantino and FIFA’s reputation had taken increasing hits from inside and outside its own walls over the plans, with Arsene Wenger, its chief of global football development, distancing himself publicly, while Carlos Cordeiro, Infantino’s personal senior advisor, quit his role on July 31, labelling the plans a “bad deal” and “irresponsible”.
Infantino is also facing mounting opposition from within FIFA and he could still be forced out by internal pressure.
Infantino did have some good news on Thursday, however. As well as CAF’s executive committee unanimously agreeing to continue to support him, CONMEBOL have said his future should be decided at the next presidential election in March, but not before then.
Players union slams FIFA ‘abuse of power’ as UEFA doubles down on boycott
Beyond national and continental associations, FIFPRO, the global players’ union, added to the growing opposition against the president’s position by slamming the “cover-up” surrounding the situation, and said it had noted FIFA’s statement “with deep concern”, while also hitting out at the governing body for enabling the plans to be hatched at all.