FIFA’s Infantino ineligible for re-election, says former governance chief citing term limits - The News International
FIFA President Gianni Infantino faces a major challenge to his leadership after Miguel Maduro, the former head of the FIFA Governance Committee, declared him legally ineligible to run for re-election.
Maduro made the comments on Tuesday as human rights organisation FairSquare wrote to member associations, urging them to declare Infantino ineligible.
FairSquare had previously urged FIFA to rule that Infantino cannot seek another term as president, arguing that he has already served the maximum three terms permitted under the body's statutes.
Infantino successfully argued that his first spell in charge, following his election at an Extraordinary Congress in 2016 after Sepp Blatter's resignation, should not count towards that limit because it completed an interrupted mandate.
In December 2022, the FIFA Council "unanimously confirmed" that the period between 2016 and 2019 did not count as a term of office for Infantino.
However, FairSquare said the reasoning behind the decision had never been made public.
The pushback centres on Article 33, paragraph two of the FIFA statutes, which explicitly states that no individual may serve as president for more than three terms.
With Infantino having been elected in 2016, 2019 and 2023, legal analysts and advocacy groups argue that another bid would violate the organisation's governance rules.
Maduro emphasised that the provision makes no distinction between complete and incomplete terms, challenging Infantino's argument that his initial shortened term following Blatter's departure should not count towards the three-term limit.
Human rights and governance organisation FairSquare has written to FIFA's member associations, urging them to formally challenge Infantino's eligibility and declare his potential candidacy invalid.
The organisation has also pointed to what Maduro described as a stifling "climate of fear" preventing open dissent among national federations.
Despite the eligibility controversy and growing calls for greater oversight, Infantino continues to receive support from football associations, setting the stage for a legal dispute ahead of the upcoming election cycle.
"Gianni Infantino has been elected three times, he's been president of FIFA for three terms. So in my view, there's no way to reconcile another presidency of Infantino."
Maduro is a Portuguese lawyer who was removed from his post at FIFA in 2017 after he blocked Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko from being re-elected to its top committee.
He added that the wording of the rule makes no exception for a shortened term.
"The text of the provision is clear, it talks about three terms. It makes no distinction on whether these terms are complete terms or incomplete terms, four-year terms or terms that may be shorter than the four years," Maduro said.
Infantino's re-election prospects received a boost last month after the head of Asian football endorsed his bid, while support across confederations gives him backing among FIFA's 211 voting members.
Maduro said FIFA's governance framework is unable to hold its president accountable, particularly when he stands to benefit from interpretations of the rules, arguing that existing checks and balances on presidential power have failed.
"That has a lot to do with the weakening of the independence of the bodies that are supposed to control the powers of the president and the political leadership of FIFA," he explained.
"Unfortunately, the recent evidence that we've had is not one of effective control. On the contrary, it is one where the president seems to be free to decide and to do whatever you want."
