European football governing body, UEFA insists it will press on with its attempt to remove FIFA President, Gianni Infantino despite withdrawing the threat to boycott competitions.
Recall that UEFA had threatened to boycott all competitions including the World Cup if the Infantino’s FIFA Forward Enterprise, FFE plans to sell of 21% of all FIFA competitions to private investors was not cancelled.
The 55 UEFA member associations, plus Europe’s members on the FIFA Council, will on Thursday be presented with a letter which guarantees that the FFE plan will not be revived after which the official removal of the boycott will be confirmed at the Executive Committee meeting in Monaco.
That will satisfy UEFA’s demands and mean that the FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup can go ahead next week in Poland with six European teams.
However, UEFA still wants Infantino out and is confident that a unity candidate can be found to stand against the FIFA President when he is up for re-election in March, 2027.
The vote is likely to be close, with the backing of 106 of the 211 FIFA member associations needed to be elected.
However, UEFA has abandoned the idea of trying to force a vote of no confidence.
It would require three quarters of the member associations, that is 159 votes, to pass the motion, which is considered unrealistic.
No candidate has been identified yet, although CONCACAF President, Victor Montagliani is considered a serious option.
Nominations must be submitted by November 18.