For years Gianni Infantino has stood for FIFA’s presidency without an opponent. That changed on Wednesday when Ramon Vega, the former Tottenham and Switzerland defender, said he would run at the March 2027 election in Rabat.
Vega, 55, is the first declared challenger. His 11-page campaign document calls for a rebuild of credibility, modernised governance, and an attempt to reunite a sport whose factions have hardened in recent months.
“Football is in the emergency room, on life support. FIFA needs a new direction and fundamental reform,” Vega said.
Vega’s declaration landed as UEFA’s 55 federations convened in Berlin for a Thursday summit built around strategy against Infantino. According to an Associated Press tally, 49 federations, mostly European, had come out against Infantino as of this week, while 87 of the 211 FIFA members had signalled support either individually or through their regional confederations.
Read also: Ronaldo leads the tributes as football says goodbye to Messi in Argentina
Five of UEFA’s heavyweights, England, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, are among those that have publicly withdrawn support for the incumbent since the summer.
“Somewhere along the way things went too far with FIFA, and we’re looking to put things back where they belong,” UEFA General Secretary Theodore Theodoridis said.
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin told reporters there were “many, many” potential candidates, though he dismissed suggestions he would run himself. Nasser Al-Khelaifi has already ruled himself out, and CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani is focused on his own February 2027 re-election.
Candidates have until November 18 to register. Each needs nominations from five FIFA member associations, an active role in football in two of the previous five years, and an integrity check.
Read also: Two goals, one verdict: Garnacho pushes for first Villa start after intensive reset
Norway files three complaints
A separate front opened on Tuesday when the Norwegian Football Federation filed three formal complaints with FIFA’s Ethics Committee and its Governance, Audit and Compliance Committee.
Lise Klaveness, the NFF president, said the complaints asked whether Infantino’s conduct amounted to “conflict of interest and abuse of position, potentially.”
The three cases Norway cited are the aborted FIFA Forward Enterprise investment plan, the lifting of a Folarin Balogun suspension that followed Donald Trump’s intervention, and the award of a “Peace Prize” to the US president at a December ceremony.
FIFA Forward Enterprise was a vehicle meant to carve out FIFA’s commercial and ticketing rights and sell a 20% stake to private investors, which analysts estimated could have raised up to $10 billion. The US fund Thrive Eternal, linked to Joshua Kushner, was named as a prospective investor before the project collapsed. UEFA has filed separate criminal complaints in Switzerland and legal action in a Florida court over the plan. Infantino’s senior adviser Carlos Cordeiro resigned during the dispute.
Read also: Yamal angry despite Spain’s comeback win, Pedri reveals why
Infantino’s September concession
Before the Norway filing and the Vega declaration, Infantino wrote to all 211 member associations on September 22 proposing an external review of FIFA’s governance framework.
“I recognise that, without the full context, this caused concern and created the impression that decisions had already been taken,” he wrote.
He added that he remained “fully committed to leading FIFA.” The proposals will be put to the FIFA Council in Zurich on October 15.
AFC president Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, who had earlier called for Infantino’s resignation, softened his position on October 6, writing to Infantino with a proposal for an internal working group to review FIFA’s existing governance mechanisms rather than demanding external action.
Read also: Dr. J walks away from the GOAT debate: ‘It’s all an opinion’
Confederations do not control how their member associations vote. Each of FIFA’s 211 members casts its own ballot in March, meaning both the Berlin summit and the governance package will have to be sold federation by federation.
Vega needs five of those nominations by November 18 to make it onto the ballot. Infantino has 87 members in his column as of this week, according to the AP tally, still short of the 106-vote simple majority needed to win in Rabat.
