The FAW confirmed on Monday that it had written to FIFA to revoke its backing for Infantino’s candidacy for the 2027-2031 term, the first national association to break publicly with the president.

UEFA’s boycott threat and the CONCACAF and AFC statements have dominated the headlines, but a withdrawal from a member association is the first move inside the body of 211 federations that will actually cast the votes in Rabat next March.

“The recent failures in good governance, processes, leadership, values, stakeholder management, communications and sound judgement have led us to a position where Mr Infantino has lost the confidence of the FAW to remain at the helm of world football,” the association said in its statement.

“Failing to put the best interests of football first is a failure we cannot accept.”

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The trigger: a scrapped $20bn plan

The FAW’s letter follows a fortnight of open warfare inside world football.

Infantino had proposed FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), a vehicle that would have sold minority stakes of up to 20 per cent in FIFA’s commercial rights, aiming to raise around $4.2bn on a $20bn valuation. Thrive Capital, the fund co-founded by Joshua Kushner, was tipped to lead the investor group.

Member associations were offered up to £30.1m each if they signed off on the plan by 19 September. Instead, on 30 July, all 55 UEFA federations voted to boycott future FIFA tournaments if the scheme went ahead, with CONCACAF and the AFC quickly aligning behind them.

Infantino scrapped FFE on Saturday, telling federations the project “has created divisions” and would not proceed. Wales’s letter, sent two days later, is the first indication that pulling the plan has not settled anything.

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How far are the numbers from removing him?

Under FIFA’s statutes, one-fifth of the 211 member associations, or 43 federations, can force an extraordinary congress within three months and put a motion to dismiss the president on the agenda. UEFA on its own comfortably clears that bar with its 55 members.

The threshold is procedural rather than political. Even if 43 associations demanded a vote, ousting Infantino would still need a majority at the congress itself, where his continental support in Africa, Asia and South America has held for years.

The German federation has refused to sign the endorsement document circulated ahead of the March 2027 congress, though it stopped short of a formal withdrawal. Wales is the first to put its position in writing to FIFA.

Bernstein calls the affair a resigning matter

Former English FA chairman David Bernstein, one of Infantino’s most persistent critics, told reporters the affair should already have decided the question.

Read also: CONMEBOL accused of protecting Infantino as FIFA revolt widens

“In a normal organisation, if he has to back down due to something of this magnitude, he’d probably be shown the door,” Bernstein said, quoted in coverage of the removal options now on the table.

FIFA has not commented on the FAW letter. The March 2027 congress in Morocco remains the fixed date on which Infantino’s fourth term will be decided, and Wales has just made it 210 to 1.

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