Numbers, not noise, will decide whether Gianni Infantino secures a fourth term at the 77th FIFA Congress in Rabat on 18 March 2027.
For the European associations that have withdrawn support one by one since late July, the arithmetic is unforgiving. A challenger would need 106 votes, a simple majority of FIFA’s 211 member associations. Even convening the extraordinary congress some opponents have floated requires signatures from 20% of members, 43 countries.
As of the last public update to Front Office Sports’ election tracker on 23 August, around 20 associations had publicly declared they would vote against Infantino: Albania, Croatia, Denmark, England, Faroe Islands, Finland, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Jordan, the Netherlands, Norway, Scotland, Serbia, Sweden, Wales, Guyana and New Zealand. Gibraltar was added on 24 August.
Africa, South America and six Arab federations
Infantino’s declared base is broader and, so far, more disciplined.
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In early August, the Confederation of African Football’s executive committee “unanimously reconfirmed its support” for Infantino, with CAF president Patrice Motsepe publicly aligned with the incumbent. On 7 August, CONMEBOL and, breaking from CONCACAF, Mexico came out in his favour, with Argentina following within hours. Argentina’s federation acknowledged the failed commercial plan had generated “far more uncertainties than certainties” but still endorsed Infantino’s continued leadership.
The Mexican Football Federation said in a statement:
“The FMF supports President Infantino’s leadership in continuing to promote the development of football through institutional strengthening.”
Six days later, six Arab federations issued a joint declaration backing the FIFA president: Morocco, Qatar, Egypt, Mauritania, Lebanon and Sudan.
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“We express our full support for Mr Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA, and reaffirm our confidence in his leadership.”
Individual associations across Asia have also aligned with the incumbent, among them Indonesia, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Mongolia.
Confederations are not vote blocs
The framing that has dominated European coverage, in which UEFA’s 55 votes and CONCACAF’s 41 land unanimously against Infantino, or CAF’s 54 unanimously behind him, flatters the maths.
FIFA elects its president under one member, one vote. Each of the 211 associations casts an individual ballot, and confederations may lobby, recommend or condemn but cannot bind their members. The leaderships of UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation and CONCACAF have jointly called on Infantino to resign over the withdrawn FIFA Forward Enterprise commercial plan, yet Qatar sits inside AFC, Mexico inside CONCACAF, and neither followed the confederation line.
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Norwegian FA president Lise Klaveness has been among the loudest critics of Infantino’s leadership.
“He does not have the institutional trust required to govern FIFA stably in the times we are in.”
Ceferin rules himself out, nominations close 18 November
Sepp Blatter has publicly backed Klaveness to replace Infantino, but no candidate has yet been formally nominated. UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin ruled himself out on 24 August and named no successor.
“My credibility is much, much, much higher if I’m not interested in the position.”
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Nominations must be submitted by 18 November, with each candidate requiring backing from at least five member associations. The 77th FIFA Congress opens in Rabat on 18 March 2027.
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