Infantino under fresh pressure as Greek FA, Bierhoff back UEFA

By Adegboyega Adeleye

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has come under fresh pressure after Greek Football Association president Makis Gagatsis and former Germany national team director Oliver Bierhoff backed UEFA’s push for change in FIFA leadership.

According to Reuters, Gagatsis said the Greek FA had taken a clear position against Infantino’s bid for re-election, while Bierhoff said recent developments had eroded confidence in FIFA’s leadership.

“The Greek FA (EPO) has taken a clear position against a candidacy of Gianni Infantino,” Gagatsis told reporters after a UEFA Executive Committee meeting in Thessaloniki, Greece.

“We saw things happen at the World Cup that are not acceptable to football public opinion.

“Then… came a programme to sell World Cup rights and we are clearly against it, so we withdrew our support of the FIFA president.”

Infantino has faced mounting opposition since proposing to sell a commercial stake in the World Cup to private investors, a plan that triggered strong resistance from UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation and CONCACAF.

FIFA subsequently abandoned the proposal and apologised to its member associations, while its leadership reaffirmed support for Infantino after a crisis meeting in Morocco in August.

Bierhoff, who served as Germany’s national team director for 18 years until 2022, said football must be protected from decisions that could undermine trust in its leadership.

“We have to take care of football,” he said.

“It is already commercial but it is a property for all of football.

“The world views may be different but in the last weeks and months a lot happened so that we have no trust any more that it will be going in the right direction.”

UEFA has been among the strongest critics of Infantino and has called for a change in FIFA leadership, with the Swiss-Italian administrator planning to seek re-election in March 2027.

However, Reuters reported last week that Infantino is still expected to have enough votes to retain his position, forcing his opponents to reconsider their strategy.

The opposition has until mid-November to nominate a rival candidate, but no clear frontrunner has emerged.

Danish football chief Jesper Moller, a member of UEFA’s Executive Committee, said on Saturday that he would continue working with European colleagues to find a candidate capable of securing a majority.

The latest developments come after several European football associations, including France, Belgium, England and Italy, withdrew their support for Infantino’s re-election amid the fallout from the abandoned investment proposal.

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