September 16 – After hosting the UEFA executive committee meeting in Thessaloniki earlier this week, the Hellenic Football Association (EPO). has become the latest national federation to withdraw previously pledged support for FIFA president Gianni Infantino.
EPO President Makis Gagatsis said: “The Greek FA (EPO) has taken a clear position against a candidacy of Gianni Infantino.
“We saw things happening at the World Cup that are not acceptable to the public opinion of football. Then … came a program to sell the rights to the World Cup and we are clearly against it, so we withdrew our support for the FIFA president.”
What started as a trickle of federations withdrawing support for Infantino has turned into a cascade as FIFA’s member associations, led by Europe, are sending a message to Infantino that his position is untenable and that he should step down.
Infantino has so far refused to acknowledge or confront FIFA’s member associations, which have voted him president in 2016, 2019 and 2023. FIFA has confirmed he will run for the presidency in March 2027, but even at that announcement Infantino was conspicuous by his absence.
InfantinoGate is a crisis facing FIFA that is bigger than the 2015 FIFAgate scandal when the US Department of Justice indicted more than 40 FIFA officials in a RICO investigation into bribery, money laundering and fraud. Infantino was presented by UEFA as a candidate for the presidency of FIFA after that crisis and the separate suspension of Michel Platini that prevented him from being a candidate for Europe.
A member of FIFA’s reform committee – and of course an active member – since assuming the presidency he has barely acknowledged the reforms that came to FIFA’s statutes, but instead bent them and in particular the Ethics process to his own will. After tolerating Infantino’s leadership style for 10 years, the FIFA Football Enterprise (FFE) World Cup sales scandal has proved to be the final straw for football leadership around the world.
It’s a fury that has galvanized stakeholders and is increasingly worrying the legends of the game.
Oliver Bierhoff, 70 caps for Germany, goalscorer in their Euro 1996 victory and manager of the German national team for 18 years until 2022, has added his voice to the conversation, saying: “We have to look after football.
“It is already commercial, but it is a property for all of football. The views of the world may be different, but a lot has happened in the last weeks and months so that we no longer trust that it will go in the right direction.”
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