UEFA has launched efforts to find a credible candidate who can challenge current FIFA president Gianni Infantino in the presidential elections to be held on March 18, 2027 in Rabat, Morocco.
UEFA vice-president Laura McAllister has made it clear that the European body does not want the confrontation with Infantino to remain just a symbolic challenge. According to her, the aim is to find a candidate who can garner broad international support and unite the confederations around a concrete platform of reforms to the governance of world football.
"We always knew things wouldn't change overnight. It would be naive to expect something like that," McAllister told Reuters after a meeting of UEFA's Executive Committee in Thessaloniki.
The UEFA official stressed that the organization is not necessarily focused on a European candidate. For her, what is more important is that the eventual candidate has support from different confederations and is able to build a broad coalition around an agenda for changing the way FIFA is run.
"The issue is not about putting a European man at the helm of FIFA. It's about an agenda for change. We first need to define what good governance of world football looks like," McAllister said.
Clashes between UEFA and Infantino have deepened in recent months, particularly following FIFA's now-abandoned plan to consider selling part of the commercial rights to its competitions, including the World Cup, to private investors.
The proposal has sparked concerns and reactions from some of football's major organisations. UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation and CONCACAF have called for changes to FIFA's governance, while several European federations have expressed reservations about supporting another term for Infantino.
McAllister insisted that the debate should not focus solely on the figure of the current FIFA president, but on the way the institution functions and is run.
"It's always been about more than one person. It's about changing the management culture," she declared.
According to the UEFA official, an eventual candidacy must be accompanied by a clear platform that includes more transparency and accountability, clearer rules on conflicts of interest, greater protection for whistleblowers and a more diverse structure for the governance of world football.
UEFA has not yet named a joint candidate to challenge Infantino. European federations and their allies have until mid-November to name a candidate, while Infantino has confirmed his intention to seek another term at the helm of FIFA.
The elections on March 18, 2027 in Rabat are expected to be an important test for relations between the confederations and for how world football will be governed in the coming years.
