Human rights group urges FIFA to block Infantino’s candidacy for re-election due to term limits | football news

FairSquare says the FIFA president should not be able to run again under the world football organisation’s statutes.

The human rights organization FairSquare has urged FIFA to comment on the matter. Gianni Infantino He is ineligible to seek another term as president of football’s governing body, arguing that he has already served the maximum three terms allowed under the body’s statutes.

FIFA presidents are limited to three terms. However, in 2022, Infantino successfully argued that his first term in office, which began when he was elected at an Extraordinary FIFA Congress in 2016 following the resignation of Sepp Blatter, should not count towards that limit because he completed an interrupted term.

In a letter sent to FIFA’s Governance, Audit and Compliance Committee (GACC), as reported by The Athletic, FairSquare said the interpretation was inconsistent with FIFA’s statutes.

“The complaint we have made provides clear evidence that this is a clear breach of the rules and sets a very dangerous precedent,” FairSquare director Nicholas McGeehan told Reuters news agency.

“The rules clearly state that three presidential terms is the maximum allowed; FIFA cannot simply get around this rule – which serves as a check on presidential power – by saying that his first term does not count.”

Infantino faces increasing scrutiny ahead of next year’s FIFA Congress, where he is expected to seek re-election for the 2027-31 cycle. The vote is scheduled for March 18 in Morocco.

Last week, UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation and CONCACAF requested a review of Infantino’s conduct after FIFA proposed creating a $20 billion subsidiary linked to its competitions, including the World Cup, to attract private investment. Sources with knowledge of the situation told Reuters that the three confederations saw the letter as an opportunity for Infantino to resign with his dignity intact.

Several national associations have also expressed concern. Scottish Football Association chief executive Ian Maxwell told the BBC on Monday that his federation would not support Infantino’s re-election.

Infantino, however, retains the support of the African and South American confederations.

Questions about transparency

FairSquare also questioned the transparency of the 2022 ruling, saying the committee’s reasoning had never been made public.

“The fact that they did not provide any reasoning to support this claim, and that they announced the apparent decision two days before the Qatar 2022 World Cup final, suggests that they knew full well that there was no basis to rule out Infantino’s first term,” McGeehan said.

The letter to the GACC was drafted with the help of Miguel Maduro, former head of FIFA’s independent Governance and Review Committee, who said the governing body could not ignore its own rules.

“The principle of term limits was a fundamental aspect of the 2016 reform aimed at limiting power and the rule introduced is clear: no FIFA president can serve more than three terms,” Maduro said in a statement.

“Trying to create an exception to that rule for Mr. Infantino reveals both a resistance to the principle of term limits and how some in FIFA conceive of the rules not as rules but as obstacles that must be circumvented.”