The revolt against Gianni Infantino is louder than any FIFA president has faced since Sepp Blatter. The paperwork to remove him is not there.
Under FIFA’s statutes, 20 per cent of the governing body’s 211 member associations, or 43 signatures, must file a written request to convene an extraordinary congress. That is the mechanism opponents would need to hold a no-confidence vote, and the last day to place such a motion on the agenda of a congress fixed for 23 November is 23 September.
A Forbes analysis by Michael Lewis, published on 25 August, argues that the current arithmetic favours Infantino reaching that date as the incumbent, and gives him a serious chance of running out the clock to March.
The African shield
The clearest reason is the Confederation of African Football. On 7 August, CAF’s executive committee unanimously reconfirmed its support for the FIFA president, thanking him for his support of African football.
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CAF represents 54 of FIFA’s 211 member associations. Its executive cannot legally deliver those votes as a bloc, because each association casts its own ballot, but the political signal matters. Infantino’s opponents have no realistic path to 43 signatures if they cannot pull defections from that region.
What Europe and CONCACAF actually did
On 30 July, UEFA’s 55 member associations unanimously voted to boycott FIFA competitions if Infantino pressed on with a plan to sell a 20 per cent stake in a new commercial entity, called FIFA Forward Enterprise, to an investor group led by Joshua Kushner.
CONCACAF’s 41 federations, 35 of them FIFA members, rejected the proposal the same day, and the Asian Football Confederation joined in.
UEFA’s statement pulled no punches.
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“Some things are simply too important to sell. The FIFA World Cup belongs to football,” it said in its published position.
Infantino scrapped the plan on 31 July, telling members the project had “created divisions”.
That collapse removed the immediate flashpoint. It has not translated into 43 signatures. Confederations do not control how their member associations vote in Zurich, and public opposition to a business plan is not the same as a signed request to remove the president.
The term-limit fight is the other route
FIFA presidents are limited to three four-year terms. Infantino argues his 2016 election, which completed Blatter’s mandate, does not count, leaving him free to run for a fourth term in Rabat.
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The interpretation is contested by rights groups and by FIFA’s own Governance, Audit and Compliance Committee, and is one of the strongest procedural threats to his continuing beyond March.
The dates that decide it
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23 September 2026: Last day to place a no-confidence motion on the agenda of an extraordinary congress.
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18 November 2026: Deadline for presidential candidates to declare.
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23 November 2026: Extraordinary congress scheduled.
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18 March 2027: FIFA presidential election, at the 77th Congress in Rabat, Morocco.
No formal challenger has declared. Names in circulation include CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani, European Club Association chairman Nasser al-Khelaifi, AFC president Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa and CAF president Patrice Motsepe. The declaration window closes on 18 November.
