Infantino's $6 Billion Chessboard: How UEFA Challenges the "Executive-Style President"

UEFA convened a meeting of its 55 member associations in Berlin on Thursday, formally outlining the profile it wants for the next FIFA president—"a distinguished figure deeply respected by the football community with the ability to unite." According to Al Jazeera, this is the first time since July that the oust-Infantino campaign led by UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin has publicly systematized candidate criteria. The meeting did not single out a specific person, and Čeferin himself made clear he would not run—the challenger may not even be European, as votes from all 211 FIFA member associations need to be contested globally.

The trigger that pushed UEFA into open confrontation was not the controversy over a single match, but a plan by Infantino that was quickly rejected. According to Al Jazeera, Infantino had secretly pushed to sell equity in the World Cup and other tournaments to private investors; although this plan did not materialize, it pushed UEFA's long-standing dissatisfaction with FIFA governance to a breaking point.

The empire Infantino controls is far more shocking in its financial scale than this political contest. According to Al Jazeera, after the conclusion of the United States-Canada-Mexico World Cup, FIFA's cash reserves had approached $6 billion. UEFA on the same day promised a one-time dividend of $10 million to all its member associations—this figure itself has become an unavoidable lever in the election campaign.

The statement issued by UEFA that day explicitly stated: "FIFA also needs new leadership: a person who is deeply respected within the football community, has the ability to unite, is deeply rooted in football, has the leadership vision and experience to earn trust across regions, and makes clear commitments to development, reform, integrity and independence."

The cracks of democratic deficit were exposed in one detail. According to Al Jazeera, all of UEFA's reform proposals received unanimous support from its member associations, with one exception—Azerbaijan—which has pledged its vote to Infantino, and one of the key aides on Infantino's globe-trotting campaign team is from Azerbaijan. This exception tears open the surface unity of the so-called "unanimous opposition" and exposes the extent to which money and personnel networks have penetrated the one-person-one-vote process.

UEFA's reform checklist points everywhere at "executive-style power." The statement demands that "the work of FIFA's appointment and oversight bodies must be free from interference by the president or the executive," and articulates a straightforward principle: "no FIFA resources may be used for personal or electoral interests." According to Al Jazeera, FIFA's recent red-card and eligibility decisions involving Cristiano Ronaldo, U.S. forward striker Folarin Balogun, and Congolese goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi have raised global concern; and Infantino's record of interfering in match-day affairs dates back as early as his decision to "include" Inter Miami in the 2025 Club World Cup—at that time Inter Miami was not the MLS champion, and there was no clear consultation and decision-making process.

On the same day UEFA was meeting in Berlin, Infantino appeared in Cape Verde, facing representatives of 54 African member associations.

"Through the 'Forward' project, we have invested $1 billion in Africa over a decade, and $500 million over the past four years. 124 different projects, and many other initiatives," Infantino said. "We need to continue, of course together, on this path." According to Al Jazeera, after these comments, Confederation of African Football President and FIFA Vice President Patrice Motsepe led the applause, and the entire audience stood in response.

According to Al Jazeera, former Swiss and Tottenham defender Ramon Vega expressed this week his wish to challenge Infantino again. This is his second attempt after his first failed challenge in 2019—at that time he failed to obtain the co-signatures of at least five voting member associations. Whether he meets the eligibility requirement of "having held a recognized position in football for at least two of the past five years" remains unclear.

The FIFA presidential election is scheduled for March 18 next year in Rabat, Morocco. Infantino is seeking re-election until 2031—and the nomination deadline is only November 18 this year. With only weeks remaining until this threshold, the question of who will decide the fate of that $6 billion reserve matters more for the future of the sport than the result of any match.