FA to Withdraw Infantino Support After Welsh FA Leads Revolt
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- The Football Association is set to write to Infantino withdrawing a previous letter of support, days after the Welsh FA became the first association to officially withdraw its backing for his re-election to the 2027-2031 term.
- The Football Association of Wales issued a formal statement saying Infantino 'has lost the confidence of the FAW to remain at the helm of world football,' citing 'recent failures in good governance, processes, leadership, values, stakeholder management, communications and sound judgement.'
- UEFA triggered the revolt by threatening to boycott all FIFA tournaments after Infantino's plan to sell minority stakes in FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), valued at roughly $20bn and targeting up to $4.2bn from external investors, forced him to abandon the proposal in the early hours of Saturday morning.
- Infantino had previously secured more than 200 letters of support from FIFA's 211 member associations — including 52 of UEFA's 55 members — but is now shoring up remaining backers in Africa, Asia and South America and faces the prospect of a challenger at the March 2027 presidential election in Morocco.
- Potential successors named by Sky Sports News include PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi (reportedly not interested), AFC president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani and UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin, though none have publicly declared candidacy.
- FA chair Debbie Hewitt, who is also a FIFA vice-president, was photographed presenting Infantino with an England shirt before England's World Cup semi-final defeat to Argentina in Atlanta, raising questions about why the FA backed him initially.
- European football leaders are weighing further escalation, including emergency FIFA Council or Congress meetings and backing a unity candidate, while UEFA criticised 'secret schemes on fast-track timescales, cooked up by faceless individuals and of dubious benefit to the game.'
Why it matters: With 52 of UEFA's 55 federations having originally supported Infantino, the coordinated withdrawal letters — already starting with Wales and England — could strip him of his European base ahead of the March 2027 vote, and the failed $20bn FFE plan has given rivals the opening they previously lacked to challenge a president who had appeared unopposed.
