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Soccer-UEFA on track to find credible challenger to Infantino, vice-president says

MADRID, Sept 16 (Reuters) - UEFA remains on course to find a ⁠credible challenger to FIFA President Gianni Infantino and has not allowed its campaign for change to dissolve into wishful thinking, vice-president Laura McAllister said on Wednesday.

The Star MalaysiaFernando Kallas2026-09-16 18:10查看原文 ↗

UEFA Vice President and Executive Committee member Laura McAllister poses for a photo in Madrid, Spain, September 16, 2026. REUTERS/Leonardo Benassatto

McAllister said the ⁠candidate for next March's election need not be European but must be capable of defeating Infantino, uniting football's confederations and delivering lasting governance reform.

Speaking to Reuters at ‌the World Football Summit in Madrid after UEFA's Executive Committee met in Thessaloniki, she rejected suggestions that opposition to Infantino had lost momentum despite the FIFA president appearing to retain enough support to win another term.

UEFA's efforts were not about installing a European figurehead to lead a rebellion, she said, but building support for a candidate with a clear reform programme.

"I don't think so," McAllister said when asked whether Infantino's opponents had overestimated the damage to his authority.

"We always knew that things wouldn't just change overnight. That would be naive. We knew that there would be a resistance to change as ⁠well, of course.

"We're taking things step by step, both legally in terms ⁠of the political context with an alternative candidate and in terms of the programme of governance reforms that we need to see."

UEFA 'UNITED AND VERY CONCERTED'

Swiss Italian Infantino, 56, faced the biggest challenge ⁠to ‌his presidency following the collapse of his proposal to sell a stake of up to 20% in FIFA competitions, including the World Cup, to private investors.

The plan prompted fierce opposition, with UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation and CONCACAF among those calling for change at the top of FIFA. Several European national associations have since withdrawn their support for Infantino's re-election, with Greece becoming ⁠the latest on Tuesday.

McAllister said UEFA nations remained "united and very concerted" in their determination to change the way FIFA is governed, but stressed that the dispute went beyond ‌Infantino.

"This was always about more than one person," she said.

McAllister said UEFA had been working quietly on several fronts and regarded the reform platform as more important than ⁠the identity or nationality of the eventual candidate.

"There's lots of prongs to any campaign to change something," she said. "There's tactics that you need to follow, but I feel very reassured that we're on track, that we will try to find a candidate that can unite all of the confederations, because it's not just UEFA; all of the confederations feel strongly about the need for change.

"And that candidate would then stand on a manifesto of reform and modernisation."

Infantino has announced that he ⁠will seek another term at the election in March. McAllister said his opponents must find a candidate capable of doing more than mounting a symbolic challenge.

"If you're in a position where you know the incumbent will be standing again, and Gianni Infantino has made it clear that he will be a candidate in the election unless something changes in the time before next March, then it's incumbent on those who oppose him to get the right candidate," she said.

"You don't fight an election unless you can win ⁠that election."

UEFA NOT INSISTING ON A EUROPEAN CHALLENGER

McAllister said UEFA would not insist on a European challenger if a credible reform candidate emerged from another confederation.

"This is about the programme of change, and I think we have to get that right first," she said. "We have to have a really clear template of what good governance looks like in global football, and it isn't what we've seen from FIFA over recent years."

McAllister said the reform programme should include greater accountability and transparency, proper recognition of conflicts of interest, stronger protection for whistleblowers and more diverse leadership.

Asked whether UEFA could maintain a working relationship with Infantino if he were re-elected, McAllister said European football would remain a powerful force in the global game, but that FIFA's ⁠leadership should learn from what has happened.

"That's not our problem as much as it's his problem," she said when asked what Infantino would have to do to restore UEFA's confidence.

"If he were to be elected, one would hope that he would have learned the lessons of a period that the game has seen as a ‌real existential crisis."

Neither FIFA nor Infantino responded immediately to a Reuters request for comment.

McAllister said UEFA would focus on making the case for reform rather than looking too far ahead before nominations had opened.

"The priority for us now has to be about convincing the world of football that it belongs to them," she said, "but that we need cultural change in the way in which the game is governed."

(Reporting by Fernando KallasEditing by Toby Davis)

Thank you for your report!

2026年9月16日，欧足联副主席兼执行委员会成员劳拉·麦卡利斯特在西班牙马德里拍摄照片。路透社/莱昂纳多·贝纳萨托

马德里，9 月 16 日（路透社）——欧足联副主席劳拉·麦卡利斯特周三表示，欧足联仍在努力寻找一位能够挑战国际足联主席詹尼·因凡蒂诺的可靠人选，并且没有让其变革运动沦为一厢情愿的想法。

麦卡利斯特表示，明年三月选举的候选人不必是欧洲人，但必须有能力击败因凡蒂诺，团结足球各大洲足联，并带来持久的治理改革。

在欧足联执行委员会于塞萨洛尼基召开会议后，她在马德里举行的世界足球峰会上接受路透社采访时驳斥了有关反对因凡蒂诺的声势已减弱的说法，尽管这位国际足联主席似乎仍拥有足够的支持来赢得连任。

她表示，欧足联的努力并非是为了扶植一位欧洲领袖来领导一场叛乱，而是为了争取支持一位拥有明确改革方案的候选人。

当被问及因凡蒂诺的反对者是否高估了对他的权威造成的损害时，麦卡利斯特说：“我不这么认为。”

我们一直都知道事情不会在一夜之间改变。那样做太天真了。当然，我们也知道变革会遇到阻力。

“我们正在一步一步地推进各项工作，无论是从法律层面，还是从政治层面（包括推出替代候选人）以及从我们需要看到的治理改革方案层面。”

欧足联“团结一致，高度协调”

56岁的瑞士意大利裔因凡蒂诺在向私人投资者出售包括世界杯在内的国际足联赛事高达20%的股份的提议失败后，面临着他主席任期内最大的挑战。