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FIFA: Infantino Runs Again for President After World Cup Chaos

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Gianni Infantino will run again in the FIFA presidential election, scheduled for March 2027. Despite the various controversies and scandals that erupted during the World Cup, despite the controversial—and ultimately abandoned—plan to sell shares of the World Cup to private investors, and despite the lack of confidence from UEFA and other global soccer federations, the current head of world soccer, who has been in office since 2016, is not giving up and will try to secure another term.

“Gianni Infantino will run for reelection in 2027. The president announced this in April. Obviously, nothing has changed,” his spokesperson stated. The deadline to submit candidacies is November 18, while the elections will be held in Rabat, Morocco, on March 18.

At the heart of the crisis engulfing Infantino is the failed FIFA Forward Enterprise project: a new company controlled by FIFA but 20% owned by external investors, including the U.S. bank JP Morgan and the Thrive Capital fund led by Joshua Kushner, brother of Jared, Donald Trump’s son-in-law. The overall project was valued at $20 billion, with the 211 member associations asked to vote by September 19: those who approved it would have had access to a $10 billion funding package, while those who refused would have remained tied to the Forward project, whose budget was capped at $2.7 billion. It was a plan that Infantino’s critics did not hesitate to describe as a veritable ultimatum.

With the elective congress scheduled for March 18, 2027, in Rabat—a city chosen not by chance, as Morocco is considered one of Infantino’s most important allies—the names of potential challengers are becoming increasingly concrete. Among the most likely candidates are Nasser Al-Khelaifi, president of Paris Saint-Germain; AFC President Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa; and CONCACAF President Victor Montagliani. Aleksander Ceferin’s name has not been ruled out either, although in Europe he could face competition from Dariusz Mioduski, who has been identified as the preferred candidate by influential federations such as Norway, Sweden, Spain, and Germany.

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