Gianni Infantino faces a clear path towards reelection as FIFA president after Concacaf president Victor Montagliani informed colleagues that he will seek to retain his position with the confederation next year, sources confirmed to ESPN — a move that will disqualify him from any bid to replace Infantino.
Montagliani, the former head of the Canadian Soccer Federation, had emerged as the most likely candidate to challenge Infantino for the FIFA presidency following the controversy of the Swiss-Italian’s plan to raise $20 billion with a partial sell-off of FIFA competitions including the Men’s World Cup.
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Infantino abandoned the plan, which was announced in July, within days of its emergence after widespread anger within the global game, which included European confederation UEFA threatening to boycott all FIFA competitions in protest.
UEFA, Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) all publicly voiced opposition to Infantino, who had appeared to set to run uncontested to retain the presidency, 10 years after succeeding the discredited Sepp Blatter in the role.
But despite FIFA vice president Montagliani being regarded as the best candidate to win an election against Infantino next March, sources have said that the 61-year-old has now chosen to seek a final four-year term as the head of the body that represents North, Central America and the Caribbean and told fellow officials at a workshop earlier this month of his decision.
News of Montagliani’s plans for reelection was first reported by The Guardian.
Montagliani’s decision will come as a huge blow to those determined to force Infantino out and his leading opponents, primarily UEFA, must now find a credible candidate to challenge the incumbent before a deadline for candidacy submissions on Nov 18.
By contrast, Montagliani’s exit from the race — sources told ESPN he never formally agreed to run — will be regarded as a major boost for Infantino, who could now be reelected without facing a challenge.
ESPN reported last week that Infantino was growing increasingly confident of his chances of securing the required 106 votes from FIFA’s 211 members to retain his position.
Ramon Vega, the former Switzerland and Tottenham defender, has announced his readiness to challenge Infantino, but the 55-year-old has not held an active role in football for at least two of the last five years — a reality that will prevent him from standing as a candidate.
