One of the major discussions dominating the media over the past few days is the growing uncertainty surrounding Gianni Infantino’s future as FIFA President ahead of the presidential election scheduled for 2027.

Since the collapse of FIFA’s proposal to sell a minority stake in the proposed FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) entity, questions concerning the administration, transparency, abuse of power, and accountability of the FIFA President have emerged, fuelling the growing debates about whether Infantino remains fit to lead world football’s governing body.

Since then, the AFC, CONMEBOL, CONCACAF and UEFA have all expressed concerns about the unilateral actions of FIFA, which were taken without proper dialogue or in accordance with due protocols. Several European member associations, including the Football Association of Wales, the Serbian Football Association and the Swedish Football Association, have already withdrawn their support for Infantino’s re-election bid. On the other hand, the CAF Executive Committee, along with the Argentine FA, the Mexican FA, Paraguay, and several other member associations, have reaffirmed their support for Infantino, setting the stage for what might be the first contested FIFA Presidential Election in decades.

How the FIFA Presidential Election Works 

Under FIFA’s electoral rules, a prospective candidate must have been actively involved in association football, whether as a player, coach, administrator, or official, for at least two of the five years preceding the election. Beyond that, the candidate must obtain written declarations of support from at least five of FIFA’s 211 member associations, with each association able to formally nominate only one candidate.

Nominations must be submitted by 18 November, exactly four months before the vote, after which candidates must pass FIFA’s eligibility and integrity checks before being admitted to the ballot. Once cleared, the election is decided by secret ballot of the member associations at the FIFA Congress.

FIFA Presidential Election Voting Process 

The electoral body consists of FIFA’s 211 member national associations, with every member association holding a single vote, regardless of the country’s size or footballing status. Votes are cast by secret ballot during the annual FIFA Congress. 

• To win a FIFA presidential election with one or two candidates on the ballot, a candidate must secure a simple majority of over 50% of valid ballots cast, which amounts to 106 votes. 

• Where three or more candidates stand, a two-thirds majority of 141 votes is required in the first round. If no candidate reaches that threshold, the candidate with the lowest vote count is eliminated in successive rounds until two remain, at which point a simple majority decides the winner. In 2016, the FIFA Presidential Election was contested by four candidates with no candidate securing the required two-thirds majority in the first round.  Infantino eventually won the second round with 115 votes, defeating Sheikh Salman, who received 88 votes.

• Where a candidate stands unopposed, the FIFA Council can elect the President by acclamation without a formal ballot. Gianni Infantino secured his re-elections in both 2019 and 2023 by acclamation.

The Term Limits of the FIFA President 

FIFA’s statutes are governed by reforms passed at the Extraordinary Congress in Zurich in February 2016, in the wake of the Sepp Blatter corruption scandal. Article 33(2) of the FIFA Statutes provides that a presidential election shall be conducted at four-year intervals, following the World Cup, with a maximum of three terms, whether consecutive or not, limiting any FIFA President to no more than 12 years in office.

In Gianni Infantino’s case, FIFA, in unanimous, decided that the 39-month between his initial election in February 2016 and his re-election in 2019 did not count as a full term for the purposes of the term limit because he had been elected to complete the remainder of Sepp Blatter’s term.

Infantino was then elected for what FIFA considers his first full term in 2019, re-elected in 2023, and has confirmed his intention to stand in the 2027 FIFA Presidential Election. If elected, he will be ineligible to contest again in 2031 due to FIFA’s current term-limit rules.

Is It Hard to Remove FIFA President? 

Removing a FIFA President is considerably harder than many people imagine. Since FIFA was founded in 1904, only nine men have served as FIFA President across more than 120 years.

The List of FIFA Presidents Since 1904:

President	Nation	Years in Office	Duration	Reason for Leaving Office
Robert Guérin	France	1904–1906	2 years	Resigned following internal administrative disputes and lack of support.
Daniel Burley Woolfall	England	1906–1918	12 years	Died in office.
Jules Rimet	France	1921–1954	33 years	Retired voluntarily following the 1954 World Cup.
Rodolphe Seeldrayers	Belgium	1954–1955	1 year	Died in office.
Arthur Drewry	England	1956–1961	5 years	Died in office.
Stanley Rous	England	1961–1974	13 years	Defeated in the 1974 FIFA presidential election.
João Havelange	Brazil	1974–1998	24 years	Stepped down / Retired (named Honorary President).
Sepp Blatter	Switzerland	1998–2015	17 years	Resigned and subsequently suspended due to major corruption scandal.
Gianni Infantino	Switzerland / Italy	2016–Present	10+ years	Incumbent president in office.

• (Issa Hayatou served as acting president in 2015–2016 following Blatter’s suspension)

The reason for these long periods in office can be viewed in two ways.

First, because of the nature of the role. The position of FIFA President can, by analogy, be compared to that of a trustee, who is entrusted with managing the affairs and assets of FIFA on behalf of the member associations, who can be viewed as beneficiaries. As with any trusteeship, there is an implied consent of continuity so long as the officeholder remains capable of serving the interests of those beneficiaries, except in cases of fraud or corruption, which would break that fiduciary relationship.

Second, it is not easy to defeat a FIFA President electorally. To remove or defeat a FIFA President in an election, a candidate needs 106 votes out of 211 in a standard run-off. This means that no single association can unilaterally determine the outcome. Any successful challenge therefore requires a broad coalition of member associations, which is considerably more difficult to build given the relationships and influence the president would have accumulated through his day-to-day management of FIFA’s affairs.

It is worth pointing out that the only time in history a sitting FIFA President has lost an election was in 1974, when João Havelange defeated Stanley Rous.

Infantino’s Challenge and the Opposition 

Names such as CONCACAF President Victor Montagliani, AFC President Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, PSG chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi, Norway’s Lise Klaveness and FIFA Secretary General Mattias Grafström have been floated publicly as possible challengers to Infantino in the 2027 Presidential Election. There has also been speculation about UEFA and CONCACAF forming a coalition to nominate Victor Montagliani, the current CONCACAF President and FIFA Vice-President. 

Whatever happens, the deadline for the submission of candidatures for the FIFA presidential election 2027 is 18 November 2026, meaning the opposition has less than 15 weeks to submit name(s).

When Will the Next FIFA Presidential Election Take Place? 

The next FIFA Presidential Election is scheduled to take place on 18 March 2027 in Rabat, Morocco.

What Are Infantino’s Chances of Winning the 2027 Election? 

Winning the FIFA Presidential Election is a game of numbers, and here is the breakdown:

Confederation	Abbreviation	Region	Member Associations (Votes)
Confederation of African Football	CAF	Africa	54
Asian Football Confederation	AFC	Asia	47
Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football	CONCACAF	North & Central America, Caribbean	35
South American Football Confederation	CONMEBOL	South America	10
Oceania Football Confederation	OFC	Oceania	11
Union of European Football Associations	UEFA	Europe	55
Total	—	—	212

With the unanimous support of CAF (54) and the OFC (11), and some members of CONMEBOL, including Paraguay and Argentina, Infantino already commands more than half the votes required to win. He does, however, face resistance from three powerful confederations: UEFA (55), the AFC (46), and CONCACAF (35), all of which have been critical of Infantino’s decisions.

READ: The top 20 records broken at the 2026 FIFA World Cup

In theory, those three confederations hold enough votes to unseat Infantino. In practice, however, the guarantee that individual member associations will follow the confederations’ wishes is never guaranteed. For example, Mexico, a member of CONCACAF, has declared its support for Infantino. Likewise, in 2016, despite Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa having the public backing of CAF and the AFC, which represented more than 100 votes, he secured only 85 votes in the first round and 88 votes in the second round of the 2016 FIFA Presidential Election, losing to Gianni Infantino.

Final Thoughts 

Before the FFE proposal surfaced, Infantino had secured the backing of over 200 member associations for the 2027 election and was expected to stand unopposed for the third time. Now, the tides have changed, with his position coming under increasinly pressure for the first time.

While Infantino currently stands unopposed, it is expected that there would be a contested election on 18 March in Rabat. Also, efforts and plans to force Infantino into resignation before the election have intensified, as coordinated attacks on his conduct have increased over the past few days. This week, he was accused of diverting UEFA money to his alleged mistress during his tenure as Secretary General of the European football governing body. Though the allegations were declared untrue by FIFA’s spokesperson, there is no doubt that the Italian-Swiss lawyer—who joined UEFA in 2000, became Secretary General in 2009, and was appointed FIFA President in 2016—has lost the support of some of his traditional blocs.

Finally, whether these recent controversies ultimately translate into sufficient opposition among FIFA’s 211 voting member associations or mount serious pressure to the point of forcing a resignation remains to be seen.

It is, however, something worth paying close attention to.

You can follow, engage in, and contribute to discussions surrounding the 2027 FIFA Presidential Election on the BallBridge Newsroom Forum. On the same platform, you will also find daily sports news, regulatory and industry updates, in-depth analysis, and insights into the stories shaping the global sports industry.