FairSquare asks FIFA to bar Infantino from seeking fourth FIFA term

By Johnson Arua

A non-profit organisation, FairSquare, has petitioned FIFA’s Governance, Audit and Compliance Committee to declare President Gianni Infantino ineligible to contest next year’s presidential election, arguing that another term would violate the organisation’s statutory limit of three terms.

In a letter dated August 13 and addressed to three members of FIFA’s Review Committee, FairSquare argued that Infantino has already served three terms since he was first elected president in 2016.

The organisation contended that a decision in 2022 to exclude Infantino’s first term from the three-term limit was inconsistent with the wording and purpose of FIFA’s statutes.

“We are writing to request that you rule Mr. Infantino ineligible to run again for the FIFA Presidency on the basis that he is already serving his third and final term,” the letter stated.

Infantino was first elected at an Extraordinary FIFA Congress in 2016 following the corruption crisis that led to the departure of Sepp Blatter. He was re-elected in 2019 and 2023.

However, FIFA’s Governance, Audit and Compliance Committee reportedly determined in 2022 that the period from 2016 to 2019 should not count as a full presidential term because Infantino was completing Blatter’s interrupted tenure.

The decision allowed Infantino to regard his 2023 election as the beginning of his first full term, potentially enabling him to seek another four-year mandate in 2027 and remain in office until 2031.

FairSquare, however, said FIFA’s statutes make no distinction between full and incomplete presidential terms, nor between elections held at Ordinary or Extraordinary Congresses.

“The statutes explicitly state that ‘no person may serve as President for more than three terms of office’ without making any distinction as to those terms of office,” the organisation said.

It further argued that excluding Infantino’s first three years in office would undermine the spirit of the reforms introduced after FIFA’s corruption scandals, which were designed to improve transparency, accountability and prevent abuses of power.

FairSquare also expressed concern that allowing presidential terms to be discounted could create a loophole through which future FIFA presidents could call elections before completing their mandates and potentially remain in power indefinitely.

The organisation noted that the membership and leadership of the Governance, Audit and Compliance Committee and its Review Committee have changed since the 2022 decision, arguing that the current members should reconsider the matter independently.

FairSquare has previously challenged Infantino’s leadership, including submitting a complaint to FIFA’s Ethics Committee alleging repeated breaches of FIFA’s political neutrality rules and seeking an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the award of the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize to United States President Donald Trump.

The latest complaint comes amid growing questions over Infantino’s leadership and his prospects for securing another mandate. He remains the only candidate to have publicly declared an intention to contest the 2027 FIFA presidential election.

FairSquare is now asking FIFA’s Review Committee to rule Infantino ineligible on the grounds that another election victory would amount to a fourth presidential term and therefore breach FIFA’s statutes.