Before Ramon Vega made his candidacy public, several federations and continental federations withdrew their support for Gianni Infantino. The Swiss Football Association and the French Football Federation announced that they no longer supported him after FIFA’s plan to create a commercial company for competition rights and sell 20% of its shares to private investors failed. In this context, Infantino was put under pressure and there were calls for his resignation from several confederations (including UEFA, AFC and CONCACAF), while the opposition also spread to other European countries.
Separately, campaigns challenging his eligibility were launched ahead of the 2027 elections: Miguel Maduro, former head of FIFA’s Governance Committee, argued that Infantino cannot run for a fourth term, while the FairSquare organization called on member associations to declare him ineligible based on FIFA’s statutes. Also in terms of the competition, Victor Montagliani (the president of CONCACAF), considered the main challenger, announced that he would not enter the race for the FIFA presidency, which considerably reduced the options opposing Infantino.
