UEFA Mobilizes 55 Nations in Berlin to Plot Challenge Against FIFA President Infantino

European football's governing body is ratcheting up its campaign to unseat Gianni Infantino from the top of world football, convening its member federations in Berlin this week for a summit that has taken on far greater significance than its original billing as a routine business meeting. The gathering of UEFA's 55 national associations, scheduled for Thursday in the German capital, comes as European officials work against a tightening clock to identify a credible challenger to the FIFA president and agree on a coordinated strategy to remove him from office.

UEFA called the summit on a previously arranged basis, but the agenda has effectively been overtaken by the escalating power struggle between European football's leadership and the man who once worked within their ranks. The meeting is expected to address proposals for a more transparent FIFA and to discuss which presidential candidate might be willing to commit to a reform platform—a clear sign that the confederation is shifting from private frustration to organized political action.

At the heart of the rift is Infantino's contentious plan to sell off stakes in the World Cup through private investment, an initiative that collapsed within days of becoming public in July. The episode crystallized years of accumulated suspicion at UEFA over what officials there describe as an increasingly presidential and executive style of governance at FIFA under its former employee. While the investment proposal is dead, the distrust it laid bare has not dissipated; European leaders now regard it as proof that FIFA's decision-making has drifted too far from the interests of its member associations.

According to UEFA general-secretary Theodore Theodoridis, the problem goes beyond any single policy dispute. "Somewhere along the way things went too far with FIFA, and we're looking to put things back where they belong," he said last month—a statement that frames the current effort not merely as a leadership contest but as a struggle over FIFA's institutional direction.

UEFA's longer-term ambitions extend well beyond the ballot box. The confederation has signaled it is preparing a criminal complaint in Switzerland against Infantino over possible financial mismanagement linked to the World Cup sell-off plan. In parallel, it has asked courts in the United States to authorize the discovery of evidence, a step that could force FIFA to hand over internal documents relevant to the contemplated criminal case. Taken together, these moves represent an unusually aggressive posture for a football confederation, which has traditionally confined its battles to the game's own governance structures rather than national courts.

The electoral arithmetic, however, remains daunting. Europe's 55 federations account for more than a quarter of FIFA's 211 member associations eligible to vote in the presidential election set for March 18 in Rabat, Morocco. Yet research compiled by The Associated Press suggests Infantino already has roughly 90 votes pledged—and that tally was assembled before any challenger had even been named. Incumbency, in other words, confers a substantial structural advantage that UEFA must overcome in a matter of months.

Nor is UEFA itself a monolithic bloc. Infantino has secured promises of support from Azerbaijan, the home country of a close aide, and from Latvia, underscoring that European solidarity against the FIFA president is far from guaranteed. On Wednesday, even as his opponents prepared to meet in Berlin, Infantino was in the Czech capital Prague, meeting with football and government officials—a reminder that he retains allies across the continent and intends to use the trappings of his office to keep them.

The most immediate obstacle for UEFA is the simplest one: it does not yet have a candidate. Any challenger must formally enter the race by November 18, leaving precious little time for the confederation and its international allies to settle on a name and build a campaign around it.

Several figures have been floated, though each appears to have ruled himself out or drifted toward other priorities. UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin joined his fellow FIFA vice presidents from Asia and North America in August in publicly denouncing Infantino for deception and breach of trust over the World Cup sell-off proposal. That joint statement signaled rare coordination between Europe, Asia, and North America. But Ceferin has consistently dismissed speculation that he might run for FIFA's top job himself, even while noting last month at UEFA meetings in Greece that there were "many, many" potential candidates.

Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa of Bahrain, who leads the Asian Football Confederation, and Victor Montagliani of Canada, who heads CONCACAF, were Ceferin's partners in the August denunciation. Neither, however, appears positioned to enter the FIFA race. Montagliani is expected to concentrate on his own re-election at CONCACAF in February, while Sheikh Salman's history as an Infantino opponent is complicated by the fact that he lost to him once before, in February 2016.

Another name frequently mentioned in football circles is Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the Paris Saint-Germain president and a close Ceferin ally. The Qatari member of UEFA's executive committee moved to quash that speculation last week, ruling himself out during a meeting of the influential European Football Clubs group he leads.

That leaves UEFA facing a strategic dilemma. It can continue searching for a heavyweight figure willing to take on an incumbent with a large pledged-vote advantage, or it can rally behind a lesser-known reform candidate who might attract support from federations outside Europe dissatisfied with FIFA's direction. The Berlin meeting is expected to weigh precisely these options, debating not only who could win but also what platform—greater transparency, limits on executive power, and a commitment to consult member associations—might unify voters across continents.

For now, the clock is the adversary. With the November 18 entry deadline and the March 18 election in Rabat both fixed, European officials are gathering under pressure, aware that any successful challenge requires a candidate, a message, and a coalition—and that they currently possess none of the three in final form. What happens in Berlin over the coming days will determine whether UEFA's discontent with Infantino matures into a genuine electoral threat or remains a protest without a standard-bearer.