Human rights group FairSquare has called on Fifa to declare Gianni Infantino ineligible for another term as president. The organisation argues that he has already completed the maximum three terms allowed under Fifa statutes and cannot seek re-election next year.
Fifa rules clearly limit any president to three terms in office. Infantino was first elected in 2016 at an Extraordinary Congress after Sepp Blatter stepped down. In 2022 he successfully claimed that this initial period should not count because it finished an interrupted mandate. FairSquare strongly rejects that view and says it directly contradicts the organisation’s own rules.
In a formal letter to Fifa’s Governance, Audit and Compliance Committee, FairSquare director Nicholas McGeehan stated that the current interpretation creates a dangerous precedent. “The rules state clearly that three presidential terms is the maximum allowed. Fifa can’t simply circumvent this rule, which serves as a check on presidential power, by saying that his first term doesn’t count,” he told Reuters.
Infantino is expected to stand again at the Fifa Congress scheduled for 18 March 2027 in Morocco. He faces growing pressure from several directions. Last week UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation and CONCACAF demanded a review of his recent conduct after Fifa proposed a 20-billion-dollar private investment vehicle linked to its competitions. Sources close to the matter said the three confederations saw the letter as a chance for Infantino to step aside with dignity. Scottish Football Association chief executive Ian Maxwell has already confirmed his federation will not support another term.
Infantino still holds strong support from the African and South American confederations. Fifa itself has not commented on the latest complaint. In December 2022 the Fifa Council unanimously confirmed that the 2016-2019 period would not be counted as a full term.
FairSquare also criticised the lack of transparency around that earlier decision. The committee never published any detailed reasoning, and the announcement came just two days before the Qatar World Cup final. Former Fifa governance official Miguel Maduro, who helped draft the new letter, said term limits were a core part of the 2016 reforms designed to limit presidential power. Attempting to create an exception for Infantino, he argued, shows a resistance to the very principle of term limits and treats rules as obstacles rather than binding limits.
The complaint now sits with Fifa’s governance bodies and could shape the 2027 presidential race.
