Gianni Infantino's Presidency Under Fire Amid Reform Push

Gianni Infantino’s attempt to steady his presidency with a late push for reforms has been torn apart by German FA (DFB) president Bernd Neuendorf, who has branded the move a blatant election tactic.

The Fifa president is under intense pressure after being forced to scrap a controversial plan to sell a 20 per cent stake in Fifa tournaments – including the World Cup – to private investors. The backlash has been fierce and global, and it has not eased.

Infantino under siege

Uefa has taken a leading role in calling for Infantino to go, even threatening to boycott Fifa competitions. Several of its member associations have already withdrawn support for the Swiss-Italian’s re-election campaign, while resistance has also grown inside the Asian confederation and Concacaf, which represents North and Central America and the Caribbean.

Yet Infantino is still clinging to office. On Monday evening he circulated a letter to all 211 member associations and Fifa Council members, setting out what he called his roadmap for reform.

In that letter, reported by multiple outlets, he proposed an “independent external review of Fifa’s current governance framework”. He also defended his abandoned sell-off plan, insisting Fifa’s “democratic processes, independence and sporting authority” had never been for sale.

The timing, though, has triggered fury in Germany.

DFB: ‘Transparent ploy’ to stay in power

Neuendorf did not bother to sugar-coat his response.

“I regard Gianni Infantino’s letter as a transparent ploy to secure his re-election next year,” he said on Tuesday, with the Fifa presidential vote scheduled for March 2027.

For Neuendorf, the problem is not the idea of reform. It is the man leading it.

“Fundamentally, Fifa now seems to have recognised that changes are essential. However, Gianni Infantino is definitely not the right person to lead a reform process. He has squandered all credibility.”

The DFB has been moving away from Infantino for some time. Earlier this year, before the World Cup-related scandals fully erupted, Germany had already refused to endorse him.

“The DFB has not signed a letter of support for the re-election of Gianni Infantino,” the federation stated back in July, adding that “further steps will be discussed in the DFB presidential board.”

Those “further steps” now look increasingly like open opposition.

Trust in Fifa ‘gone’

Inside German football, patience has snapped. Former Germany national team director Oliver Bierhoff summed up the mood with a stark warning about the direction of the global game.

“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.”

That word – trust – hangs over everything. Infantino is promising outside scrutiny and structural change. Leading figures in one of football’s most powerful nations no longer believe him.

With Uefa’s threat of boycotts on the table, opposition rising across multiple confederations and the March 2027 election creeping into view, the question is no longer whether Infantino will offer reforms.

It is whether anyone in the game’s major power bases still wants him anywhere near them.