Nasser Al-Khelaifi

Thursday, July 16, 2026

Al Jazeera - Ahmed Azzo:

Corridors of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) and the European football body (UEFA) are witnessing moves to find a challenger to Gianni Infantino in the FIFA 2027 elections, and a strong candidate has been put forward: Qatari businessman Nasser Al-Khelaifi, chairman of Qatari beIN Sports network, president of French club Paris Saint-Germain, and chairman of the European Club Association.

Media reports say that European associations (such as Belgium and Poland) are leading a move to persuade Al-Khelaifi to compete against Gianni Infantino. He is the ideal figure capable of ousting Infantino due to his extensive network of relations and his economic and sports influence.

Despite these moves, Infantino enjoys support from African and Asian associations, benefiting from his projects to expand the World Cup to 48 teams currently and his proposals to increase it to 64 teams in the future.

The intensive European move to oust Gianni Infantino in July 2026 is due to accumulated political and technical disagreements that peaked during the ongoing 2026 World Cup. The main reasons behind the anger of the European football body and its affiliated associations are summarized in the case of American player "Balogun", who received a red card in the World Cup, and his suspension was suddenly lifted after intervention by U.S. President Donald Trump.

UEFA also rejects Infantino's ongoing proposals to increase the number of matches and tournaments; most notably his plan to raise the number of World Cup teams to 64 in the future (after it increased to 48 in the current edition), in addition to his desire to hold the Club World Cup every two years. Europe sees these plans as aimed only at increasing FIFA's financial profits, at the expense of player safety and the destruction of the value of local and continental European tournaments.