Infantino’s route to a fourth FIFA term remains blocked by a 106-vote hurdle

Gianni Infantino’s opponents do not currently have enough support to remove him as FIFA president, despite growing resistance within European football and public criticism of his leadership, according to Spanish journalist Ladislao J. Monino.

The key obstacle is numerical: any attempt to convene an extraordinary FIFA Congress and force a vote on Infantino’s position would require 106 votes. His critics have not yet secured that figure, making his removal highly unlikely unless he chooses to resign and withdraw from the election for a fourth term.

Infantino is due to stand for re-election on 18 March 2027. Monino, a journalist with Spanish radio station Cadena SER, said resignation was currently the only realistic way the Italian-Swiss president would not remain in charge of world football.

He had made the same argument in an article for El Pais headlined “The difficult task of removing Infantino”, and repeated it while appearing on the programme El Larguero with Alvaro Benito.

Monino said there was a clear European view opposing Infantino, while public opinion had also turned against him because of a series of controversial events before and during the World Cup.

However, he stressed that public sentiment did not translate directly into the votes needed to change FIFA’s leadership.

“Public opinion does not vote,” he said.

Infantino has suffered a significant political setback after UEFA and Concacaf withdrew their support, but Monino said the opposition was not complete. Several associations within Concacaf continue to back the incumbent president, meaning the overall balance of votes does not match the strength of the public disagreement.

The journalist identified the requirement for 106 votes as the biggest practical barrier facing those seeking to challenge Infantino.

“106 votes are needed to remove him and to call an extraordinary Congress,” Monino said.

While there is “strong interest from UEFA and its president Aleksander Ceferin in removing him from the FIFA presidency”, Monino suggested that the European governing body would already have begun organising a formal challenge if it had the necessary numbers.

That process would include putting forward a candidate capable of defeating Infantino if an extraordinary Congress were called and a campaign was launched to push him towards resignation.

Attention is now turning to two important meetings in the coming months. UEFA is expected to hold its presidential election conference at the start of next year, with Ceferin widely expected to be re-elected.

The FIFA Congress will also take place in Rabat, Morocco. The meeting will be watched closely amid questions over whether the dispute between Infantino and his European critics could affect the political atmosphere surrounding the next World Cup.

Despite the growing opposition and the criticism directed at him, the available figures currently leave Infantino in a strong position. Unless his opponents can reach the 106-vote threshold, their campaign against his presidency is unlikely to move beyond political pressure.