Gianni Infantino faces fight as FIFA president as shortlist of potential candidates to replace him emerges

Calls are growing from UEFA federations to back a candidate to run against Gianni Infantino at the next FIFA presidential election, talkSPORT understands.

Infantino confirmed he was seeking a third term at April’s FIFA Congress and has been hoping his re-election will be unopposed.

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Yet talkSPORT has learned there is some support for other candidates within UEFA.

It comes in light of talkSPORT exclusively revealing Infantino received a call from US President Donald Trump asking him to review US striker Folarin Balogun’s red card, which was subsequently suspended, with UEFA reacting with a strong statement accusing FIFA of ‘crossing a red line’.

Infantino hit back, pointing to the independence of the FIFA disciplinary committee that made the decision, which made Balogun eligible to play in the last-16 loss to Belgium.

Yet other than ‘discretion’, FIFA or their judicial committee are yet to explain the reason for the decision in more detail.

And talkSPORT has learned the call was made by solely by the chairman of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee, Mohammad Al Kamali.

Who could run against Infantino to become the next FIFA president?

UEFA President Alexander Ceferin would be the most qualified name, but the Slovenian lawyer is understood to be willing to continue in his current role as UEFA President next Spring.

He had initially ruled out standing for a third full term until 2031, but is now willing to seek re-election if no other candidates step forward.

Ceferin is not looking to go head-to-head with Infantino despite clashing on issues on a number of occasions.

As a result, multiple UEFA federations, including Belgium and Poland, would back a move for PSG President Nasser Al-Khelaifi to stand at the next election.

talkSPORT understands the EFC Chairman has no such ambition to stand for office so would take significant persuading.

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talkSPORT also understands senior officials within Bosnian, Norwegian, Swedish, German and Spanish football have all discussed backing other European candidates, including Legia owner Dariusz Mioduski.

Should Al-Khelaifi choose not to stand, which is the current expectation, Poland would favour Mioduski as well.

Outside of UEFA, Concacaf president Victor Montagliani has been touted as a possible successor to Infantino.

Sources close to Montagliani argue his focus is on being re-elected as CONCACAF president but it is relatively common knowledge the Canadian has aspirations to be FIFA president one day.

Confederation of African Football president Patrice Motsepe is another name intent on being FIFA president one day.

The South African administrator is highly unlikely to go head-to-head with close ally Infantino, instead preferring to wait until 2031 in the hope of getting an endorsement during an election Infantino can’t stand again in.

The challenge for UEFA federations wanting to challenge Infantino is the FIFA president’s proposed plans to expand the World Cup to 64 teams, as well as expand the Club World Cup and make it every two years, are widely supported by CAF, CONCACAF and Asian Football Confederation members.

When do nominations to be the next FIFA president close?

And there appears to be no appetite to table a vote of no confidence against Infantino either despite it being toyed with at the last FIFA Congress. 

Most federations will simply view the election itself as a vote of confidence, which is why a growing number of UEFA members are hoping to back another candidate to avoid Infantino winning a new term without a genuine debate.

Nominations for the next FIFA presidential election can be made up until November 18 with the election taking place on November 18 in Rabat, Morocco.