Gianni Infantino’s opponents appear to be running out of options for a strong challenger in the FIFA presidential election. Victor Montagliani is now also said to be out of the running.
As first reported by The Guardian and later by the BBC and ESPN, citing their own sources, the Canadian Victor Montagliani intends to stand for a further four-year term as head of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) and will not stand for the FIFA presidency.
The 61-year-old Canadian is said to have announced this in private earlier this month. Montagliani had previously never made any specific public comments regarding a candidacy for the presidency of world football’s governing body.
The way seems clear for Infantino
This appears to clear the way for Infantino, just over a month before the nomination deadline on 18 November. Aleksander Ceferin had ruled out a bid; the Slovenian is seeking a fourth term as UEFA president. The Qatari Nasser Al-Khelaifi is also not standing. Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), was also mentioned, but apparently moved closer to Infantino this week.
On Thursday, at the conference of the continental body CAF in Cape Verde, the Swiss national once again received the “unanimous and unreserved” support of the 54 African member associations.
“Anti-Infantino summit” in Berlin
At the same time, leading representatives, including DFB President Bernd Neuendorf, gathered in Berlin for an “anti-Infantino summit” organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) – partly to debate reforms to FIFA and further steps in the campaign against Infantino.
The European association also reaffirmed that an alternative to the incumbent, Infantino, should be put forward for the world governing body’s presidential election in March 2027 in Rabat, Morocco. “The person at the helm, who in a particular way embodies the way FIFA presents itself today, must be replaced,” emphasised Neuendorf: “Personally – though I believe this was the majority view today – I am not convinced that a credible reform process can be achieved under this FIFA leadership.” The profile of a potential rival candidate was also discussed.
Following the failure of his plan to sell shares in the World Cup to private investors, the 56-year-old Infantino appeared to be on the brink of stepping down before the end of his presidency last summer. Recently, however, he has gradually regained support.
