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UEFA has begun exploring potential candidates to challenge FIFA President Gianni Infantino in the 2027 FIFA presidential election, signalling a possible contest for the leadership of world football.
UEFA Vice President Laura McAllister disclosed this at the World Football Summit in Madrid, saying the European football body was working on both an alternative candidate and a programme of governance reforms.
Infantino has confirmed that he will seek another term when FIFA’s 211 member associations vote at the organisation’s Congress in March 2027.
McAllister’s comments come amid tensions between UEFA and FIFA over Infantino’s proposal to sell a stake in FIFA to a private investment group led by Joshua Kushner.
UEFA had previously threatened to boycott the World Cup and other FIFA competitions if the proposed investment deal went ahead, putting the disagreement between the two football governing bodies in the public domain.
McAllister said UEFA recognised that changing FIFA’s leadership and governance structure would not happen immediately, stressing that the organisation was pursuing its objectives gradually.
“We always knew that things wouldn’t just change overnight. That would be naive. We knew that there would be a resistance to change as well, of course,” she said.
She added: “We’re taking things step by step, both legally in terms of the political context with an alternative candidate and in terms of the programme of governance reforms that we need to see.”
The search for an alternative candidate could set up a direct challenge to Infantino at the 2027 election, although UEFA has not publicly identified the person it may support.
The FIFA presidential election is scheduled for March 2027, when representatives of the 211 member associations will vote to determine the organisation’s next president.
