Time for a FIFA alternative

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This article was published 07/03/2025 (249 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There is a lot going on.

Over the past week, directives were issued and bulletins dispatched at a pace as relentless as their contents were random. There was a social media blitz, uncomfortably bizarre yet unbearably irritating. One can take only so much of the voice, the posture, the shameless drive for attention – and for money.

Can’t a person just wish that he, his administration and everything he stands for would simply go away? Enough is enough, and this is definitely enough.

World football has had enough of FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

First there was the strong-arming of the 2031 Women’s World Cup to its presumed American hosts. Then Coldplay was unveiled as a sort of advisory group to a “Super Bowl-style” half-time show at the 2026 men’s World Cup Final. For good measure, a billion dollars in prize money was announced for this summer’s Club World Cup. That was only Wednesday.

On Thursday, FIFA floated the notion of expanding the 2030 World Cup, already taking place on three continents, to 64 teams. Given he’s posted 18 times to Instagram this week, Infantino’s on track for nearly 5,000 more by the time that first ball is kicked, presumably in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Had enough yet? It seems some important people have nearly reached their limit.

Early last month, amidst FIFA’s ongoing content dump, representatives from UEFA and CONMEBOL met briefly in Nyon, Switzerland. It was not a clandestine gathering of the football chiefs of Europe and South America. They had their picture taken and even released a post-meeting communique.

“As the historic powerhouses of world football,” it read, “Europe and South America share a deep-rooted connection, not only through the talent that flows between their continents but also through a common vision for football’s future.”

It’s a vision, apparently, that doesn’t have room for the brazenly populist Oval Office lackey who breaks his own organization’s rules almost as often as his tiny-handed political mentor.

“…a common vision for football’s future.” It’s too soon to tell, but a movement – or at least the idea of a movement — could be afoot to remove the sport from Infantino’s greedy grasp and FIFA’s contaminated governance.

It would actually be quite easy to do.

According to FIFA Statute 18, any of FIFA’s 211 member associations can resign with effect from the end of a calendar year, provided notice “must reach the general secretariat no later than six months before.” By June, in other words. Not this June, of course, but perhaps a future June.

Naturally, common action would be key.

Using CONMEBOL as an example, Brazil and Argentina would need to secretly agree an exit date between themselves, and then let their eight counterparts in on the secret. With their leadership, they could guide the continent out of FIFA – though it would have to happen in concert with UEFA.

A similar scenario would be required for the Europeans, albeit at a much greater scale. England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, and ideally Switzerland as well, would conceivably play the Brazil-Argentina role, after which the other 49 or 50 countries could enter the process.

Needless to say, a lot of whispered groundwork would need to be laid before the rebel associations could form a FIFA replacement. Funding guarantees would have to be made, and any number of other negotiations would inevitably take place to create a smooth transition process for the other continents, should they choose to opt in.

It’s not as far-fetched as it sounds.

In July of 2023, as per reporting by The Guardian, Danish Football Union chairman Jesper Mǿller Christensen stated the Nordic associations had been considering pathways to a FIFA exit for nearly a year. No doubt they weren’t the only ones.

Then, last October, a letter circulated among Confederation of African Football (CAF) members, warning that close ties with Infantino could spell the end of their organization. For context, the memo was responding to the collapse of the African Football League — a brainchild of Infantino’s before he abandoned it for lack of revenue.

As a cautionary tale, it also reveals exactly what Infantino’s FIFA is after: the many billions in guaranteed profits from club football, and prestigious club football in particular. It’s why the likes of Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Juventus and Manchester City will be in the United States this summer, extending their seasons into July.

Take that Club World Cup and add the expanded 2026 World Cup, the extra-expanded, tri-continental 2030 World Cup and an NFL-inspired interval concert, nevermind the uncontested awarding of the 2034 tournament to Saudi Arabia, and it’s understandable why a breakaway plot is more likely than unlikely at this point.

FIFA is no longer fit for purpose. It’s reached a point where exhausted athletes, disillusioned fans and almost everyone else associated with the sport just wishes the organization, and everything it stands for, would simply go away.

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