FIFA Governance Crisis: Is It Time to Embrace Swiss-Style Rotation?

A decade after the Sepp Blatter scandal, the world of football is once again grappling with a deep governance crisis. FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who was elected in 2016 on a promise of transparency and democracy, has paradoxically led the organization into a management style that makes the Blatter era seem preferable. He has consolidated power autocratically, isolating internal control bodies and reducing his inner circle to a minimum.

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Gianni Infantino, who had himself elected in 2016 on the promise of a transparent and democratic FIFA, has paradoxically succeeded in making people regret Sepp Blatter, locking himself into an autocratic and personal management of power.

Infantino has effectively transformed the executive committee into a rubber-stamping body and his administration into mere implementers. The 211 member associations are treated as shareholders primarily interested in dividends. Shockingly, even his second and third-in-command were unaware of his plan to create a commercial company open to private capital, a project he secretly developed with the bank JP Morgan and the Trump family.

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Infantino has reduced his executive committee to a recording body, his administration to executors, and the 211 member associations to shareholders only interested in the amount of their dividends.

This prospect of power escaping the hands of football stakeholders triggered a swift and unexpected revolt. The near-unanimous rejection of the project has emboldened opponents, particularly within UEFA, to push for Infantino's resignation. However, the current FIFA president is clinging to his position, aiming to serve until the presidential election scheduled for March 2027 in Rabat, where he intends to seek a fourth mandate. He is currently the sole official candidate, as potential contenders hesitate to risk the political fallout.

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Even his numbers 2 and 3 were not aware of his idea to create a commercial company open to private capital, while he was finalizing the project in secret with the bank JP Morgan and the Trump clan.

The article suggests that FIFA could learn from the Swiss political model, which features a rotating presidency and a dual majority system. This could help decentralize power and prevent the kind of autocratic control that has plagued the organization. The current structural problems are evident, with figures like PSG president Nasser al-Khelaïfi holding positions that represent conflicting interests – European professional clubs, Qatari sponsorship, and support for Infantino himself.

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It is this prospect of power escaping the people of football that has caused this revolt, as brutal as it was unexpected.