FIFA's Gianni Infantino faces presidency challenge as UEFA shortlist leadership candidates

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FT Desk

UEFA have started shortlisting candidates to take on Gianni Infantino for the FIFA presidency.

Infantino has held the presidency since 2016 after succeeding Sepp Blatter. He first made his name at UEFA, where he helped run some of Europe's biggest competitions, including the Champions League and the European Championship.

Since taking over at FIFA, he's pushed through several major changes, most notably expanding the men's World Cup to 48 teams and launching a new-look Club World Cup. While he's often spoken about making football more global and accessible, his time in charge has also attracted plenty of criticism, with a number of FIFA's decisions and controversies putting him under the spotlight.

In the lead-up to the World Cup, he courted controversy due to his relationship with Donald Trump and his decision to award the United States president the inaugural FIFA 'Peace Prize'.

In the subsequent months after receiving that honour, Trump instigated several military operations abroad and would eventually go to war with Iran, a participating nation in the World Cup. The Iranians were forced to relocate their home base to Mexico during their time in the tournament and were only granted 24-hour visas for their matches.

The USA's immigration policy also led to plenty of fans, and officals and even one World Cup referee not being allowed into the country for the World Cup.

Things seemed to reach breaking point for FIFA and Infantino during the tournament when the governing body bizarrely made the decision to overturn a suspension for United States striker Folarin Balogun so that he could feature in a knockout game versus Belgium.

Trump confirmed that he personally contacted Infantino to intervene, though it was subsequently reported that the decision was made by one man alone - FIFA disciplinary chair Mohammad al-Kamali.

UEFA released a strong statement following the fiasco, saying FIFA had "crossed the line".

UEFA ready to take on Infantino

UEFA have already sought to act in direction opposition to FIFA when it comes to ticket prices. The cost of match tickets for the 2026 World Cup has been widely criticised and UEFA took advantage of that poor PR by announcing affordable tickets for the 2028 European Championships despite the competition being two years away.

Infantino previously confirmed at April's FIFA Congress that he was seeking a third term, hopefully unopposed.

Now, UEFA are targeting the FIFA presidency, with several candidates beginning to emerge.

TalkSPORT has confirmed that various names are being considered but some are more likely than others.

Although UEFA president Alexander Ceferin is widely regarded as one of the strongest potential candidates, the Slovenian is expected to remain at the helm of European football rather than pursue FIFA's top job.

He had previously indicated he would not seek another full term as UEFA president beyond 2027, but is now prepared to stand for re-election if no suitable successor emerges.

Another popular candidate is Paris Saint-Germain chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi, but he reportedly has no interest in standing for office despite being chairman of the European Football Clubs organisation.

Bosnia, Norway, Sweden, Germany and Spain all want Legia owner Dariusz Mioduski.

Concacaf president Victor Montagliani has been mentioned as a possible successor to Infantino.

The deadline for nominations in the upcoming FIFA presidential election is 18 November, with the election itself taking place later that day in Rabat, Morocco.