INFANTINO MUST NOT CONTINUE

LaLiga President Javier Tebas Calls for FIFA Leadership Change Despite Withdrawal of World Cup Privatization Plan

Says FIFA’s governance crisis runs far deeper than the abandoned FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal and urges world football to embrace a new era of transparent leadership.

LaLiga president Javier Tebas Medrano has called for Gianni Infantino to step down as FIFA president, arguing that the governing body’s decision to abandon its controversial FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposal does not resolve what he described as a much broader crisis of governance within world football.

In a strongly worded statement released following FIFA’s decision to withdraw plans to introduce private investment into its commercial operations, Tebas insisted that football authorities must not mistake the U-turn for genuine reform.

“That FIFA has withdrawn its proposal to privatize its competitions is good news,” Tebas said. “But it would be a grave mistake to think that this has resolved the governance problem.”

The LaLiga chief warned that football’s stakeholders—including continental confederations, national associations, domestic leagues and players—should not consider the matter closed simply because the FFE proposal has been abandoned.

“The issue is much deeper,” he added.

Tebas questioned whether football had already forgotten a series of controversies that, in his view, have damaged confidence in FIFA’s leadership. Among them, he cited the suspension of a player’s red-card sanction following political intervention during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, investigations in the United States relating to FIFA governance, criticism over World Cup ticket pricing, and what he described as unilateral decisions concerning the international calendar, competition formats and new tournaments.

While several of those matters remain the subject of ongoing public and legal debate, Tebas argued they collectively reflect a pattern of decision-making that extends beyond any single proposal.

“The problem was never a single proposal,” he said. “The problem is a governance model that concentrates power, reduces checks and balances, and sidelines those directly affected by its decisions.”

The Spanish football executive said the time had come for a change at the top of FIFA, insisting that restoring confidence in the game’s global administration requires new leadership.

“For all these reasons, I believe Gianni Infantino must not continue at the helm of FIFA,” Tebas declared.

“World football needs new leadership that modernizes its governance, recovers institutional credibility, and builds future decisions by agreeing them with the involved actors, previously evaluating their sporting, economic and social impact, rather than imposing them unilaterally.”

Tebas’ intervention comes after FIFA confirmed that it would not proceed with the FIFA Forward Enterprise project, a proposal that sought to establish a commercial subsidiary capable of attracting external investment to generate additional funding for football development. FIFA maintained throughout the consultation process that governance and ownership of its competitions would remain under FIFA’s control.

However, the proposal met fierce resistance from UEFA, Concacaf, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), domestic leagues and several football stakeholders, who argued that the process lacked sufficient transparency and consultation before FIFA ultimately withdrew the initiative.

For Tebas, the withdrawal represents only one chapter in a wider debate over how football should be governed.

“Withdrawing a proposal does not erase everything that has happened,” he concluded.

“It is only the tip of the iceberg.”