European football leaders explore confederation rotation for FIFA top job

UEFA is examining ways to prevent any future FIFA president from accumulating as much power as Gianni Infantino, although the current office-holder is expected to remain in position for the time being.

The proposal is being discussed within what has been described by media reports as a “UEFA alliance”, with CONCACAF likely to be associated with the group. The broad coalition of football associations is considering whether the FIFA presidency should rotate between the world governing body’s confederations.

Such an arrangement would be intended to distribute influence more widely and place limits on the authority of whoever leads FIFA. According to The Independent, the discussions reflect UEFA’s desire to avoid a repeat of the current situation after Infantino’s time in office eventually comes to an end.

A change in leadership is viewed by UEFA as the minimum requirement. However, the broader objective would be to ensure that no future president is able to exercise the same level of power as Infantino.

The issue was raised when senior football officials met in Salzburg during last Wednesday’s UEFA Super Cup. It was the first time several important figures from the game had come together since the crisis affecting FIFA began.

Aleksander Ceferin, the president of UEFA, is reported to have held talks with Patrice Motsepe, president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF). CAF has supported Infantino, a position that differs from that of the overwhelming majority of countries.

The meeting in Salzburg also included discussion of commissioning an independent audit of FIFA’s governance. The possible approach could draw on the model used by the European Union, where authority and decision-making are distributed among its member states.

Under the idea being considered, control of FIFA would not rest so heavily with one individual or one part of the football world. The presidency could instead be shared over time between the confederations, although the report does not indicate that a final agreement has been reached.

The discussions remain focused on the period after Infantino rather than on an immediate attempt to remove him. FIFA’s current president is therefore expected to continue in his role for now, while UEFA and its potential partners consider how the organisation should be governed in the future.

The possibility of a confederation-based rotation would represent a significant change to the way FIFA’s leadership is organised. It would also reflect the concerns of those associations that believe the president’s powers should be more tightly balanced.

For UEFA, the central question is not only who succeeds Infantino, but whether the structure of the governing body should change before the next president takes charge.