FIFA Power Struggle: Ceferin and Montagliani Push for $10M Payout
The World Cup is over. The money is in. Now the real fight begins.
FIFA’s swelling cash reserves have triggered an open power play at the top of world football, with UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin and CONCACAF chief Victor Montagliani urging that every member federation receive an extra $10 million – and using that demand as the spearhead for an attempt to unseat Gianni Infantino.
In a letter sent Friday to the FIFA president and seen by The Associated Press, the two vice presidents from Europe and North America laid out their case bluntly: after a lucrative World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, FIFA’s cash reserves should stand at around $6 billion. From that, they argue, the organization can afford a “one-off release” of $2.1 billion to its 211 member federations.
The timing is anything but accidental.
Money, power, and a failed $20 billion play
Ceferin and Montagliani’s proposal lands just months after Infantino’s ambitious – and deeply controversial – plan to sell stakes in FIFA’s World Cup and commercial rights to private investors collapsed under global backlash.
That plan, fronted by an investment group led by Joshua Kushner, brother of Jared Kushner, was pitched as a $20 billion commercial spinoff project under the working title FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE). It promised, among other things, $20 million to each national federation, a figure Infantino used to rally support.
The project blew up instead.
UEFA, CONCACAF and other critics bristled at the idea of ceding control of football’s crown jewel to private equity. The Asian Football Confederation also voiced concerns. The plan was exposed in late July through press reports, and the political cost has been mounting ever since.
Now, Ceferin and Montagliani are offering a different kind of carrot: $10 million per federation, no private investors attached, and a clear message that the money will flow even if Infantino is removed.
The letter underlines that already promised FIFA funding – $20 million for each of the 211 federations through 2030 – “would continue in full as already committed.” The implication is stark. Infantino is no longer the only route to increased cash.
A presidency under siege
This is not just about numbers on a balance sheet. It is about who controls world football for the next decade.
UEFA and CONCACAF now openly want Infantino out – either before or at the FIFA presidential election next March. Until the private equity storm broke, the 54‑year‑old Swiss-Italian appeared to be cruising toward an unopposed re-election for a fourth and final term through 2031, buoyed by a profitable World Cup in North America and strong backing from key allies in Africa, South America and the Arab world.
That picture has changed.
Infantino’s close ties to former U.S. President Donald Trump, including frequent visits to the White House in the build-up to the World Cup, once looked like a political asset in the North American market. Now, with CONCACAF’s own president turning against him and federations in the region being courted by rival power brokers, that relationship offers little protection.
The battle lines are increasingly clear. The South American and African confederations have publicly backed Infantino. The Asian Football Confederation has grown more critical in recent weeks. Europe and North America, historically the sport’s commercial powerhouses, are now leading the move to force him out.
“Lastly, please note we will be informing the other four confederation presidents to support this motion,” Ceferin and Montagliani wrote, signaling that this is not a quiet internal disagreement but a coordinated campaign.
Zurich showdown looms
The next flashpoint is already set.
Ceferin and Montagliani have demanded a full, independent analysis of FIFA’s finances ahead of an October 15 meeting in Zurich. That gathering of the FIFA Council – chaired by Infantino – will be the first since the secretive private equity plan was revealed.
The request is pointed: they want hard numbers on the table before deciding how much can “responsibly” be distributed to member federations. In other words, no blank checks, no opaque deals, and no more surprises.
That Council meeting could define the tone of the months leading into the presidential election. UEFA and CONCACAF’s leaders will arrive as central figures, not just regional representatives. European officials are also set to meet at a UEFA-hosted event before the Council convenes, a likely staging ground for strategy and, potentially, for sounding out a challenger.
FIFA, for its part, was approached for comment on the letter and the financial demands.
Who takes on Infantino?
For all the noise, one key question remains unanswered: who is actually willing to run against Infantino?
FIFA has set November 18 as the deadline for presidential candidates to declare. The election will be held four months later in Rabat, Morocco – a loyal Infantino ally and a 2030 World Cup co-host alongside Spain and Portugal, both UEFA members.
Names have swirled for months. Montagliani himself is often mentioned. So is Nasser al‑Khelaifi, the influential Qatari president of Paris Saint‑Germain, a member of the Qatari government and a figure on UEFA’s executive committee. Both sit at the intersection of politics, business and football, exactly the space where FIFA’s future will be decided.
Yet neither has publicly said they want the job. Qatar’s federation has continued to back Infantino, another complicating factor for any potential challenge from the region.
For now, the opposition is structural rather than personal: a bloc of confederations, led by UEFA and CONCACAF, trying to clip the president’s wings, open the books, and show member associations they can be richer without him.
UEFA turns to U.S. courts
Ceferin’s campaign is not confined to FIFA’s internal corridors.
UEFA has gone to courts in Manhattan and Florida seeking authorization to obtain evidence from Kushner’s investment firm in New York and from FIFA itself over the $20 billion FFE proposal. The European body wants documents and communications related to the abandoned project as it weighs a potential criminal complaint against Infantino in Switzerland, FIFA’s home country, for possible financial mismanagement.
That legal move drags the fight into a new arena, one where discovery rules and judicial oversight could pry open deals that have so far been shielded from public view.
Infantino, who traveled to the Caribbean last month to shore up support from CONCACAF members despite Montagliani asking him not to visit, now faces pressure on multiple fronts: political, financial, and potentially legal.
The World Cup delivered record revenues. The question now is whether that windfall cements his power – or bankrolls the campaign to end it.
