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Infantino will stand again in March, and the confederations that broke with him get a ballot

Nominations close on 18 November for a FIFA presidency that hands out the 2030 World Cup's delivery contracts.

1 min read via espn.com

Gianni Infantino will stand for another term as FIFA president, the governing body confirmed, six weeks after the collapse of his plan to sell a fifth of a $20bn commercial subsidiary — the World Cup among its assets — to private investors.

The timetable is now fixed. Nominations close on 18 November, and the 211 member associations vote at the FIFA Congress in March 2027. Infantino needs a simple majority, and the arithmetic does not depend on the confederations that have turned against him: UEFA, Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation have all withdrawn their support, and UEFA is reported to have prepared a criminal complaint. Concacaf's president, Victor Montagliani, is the name most often floated as a challenger.

Why it matters here

The winner in March 2027 runs the organisation that stages the Women's World Cup in Brazil three months later and awards the hosting, commercial and delivery contracts for the 2030 men's tournament across Spain, Portugal and Morocco. Those are among the largest single procurement programmes in the events industry, and for the first time in a decade the identity of the person signing them is genuinely uncertain.

An election also settles a question the last two months have left open: whether the private-capital proposal was a personal initiative that died with its rejection, or a direction of travel that survives it. A contested Congress makes that the ballot question.

Source

espn.com Read the original at espn.com Original reporting · espn.com

Original summary by Proventier.