Montagliani plans final Concacaf term as UEFA seeks FIFA challenger

Victor Montagliani intends to seek a final term as Concacaf president rather than challenge Gianni Infantino for the FIFA leadership, BBC Sport reported on October 8. The decision removes a potential opponent ahead of March's presidential election, although Montagliani had never publicly confirmed that he would enter the race.

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According to sources cited by the BBC, Montagliani has told colleagues he wants to remain in charge of the confederation covering North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The Guardian first reported his plans. Infantino has confirmed he will seek a fourth term, while those seeking an alternative candidate face a November 18 nomination deadline.

Montagliani had been regarded as a possible challenger following opposition to Infantino's proposal to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors. That proposal was subsequently abandoned. UEFA has been leading efforts to replace Infantino, but the BBC reported that no confirmed challenger had yet emerged for the March vote.

Separately, Aleksander Ceferin told a meeting of the heads of all 55 UEFA national associations in Berlin that he would seek a fourth term as president of the European governing body. His decision reverses the position he announced in February 2024, when he said he would not run again amid a dispute over changes to UEFA's statutes allowing another term.

Ceferin, first elected in 2016, said the national associations had asked him to continue and that further work remained. He has ruled out running against Infantino himself, according to the BBC, while remaining committed to finding another candidate. Former Tottenham and Switzerland defender Ramon Vega has said he intends to stand, but whether he can obtain the five supporting letters needed to reach the ballot remains unclear.

UEFA also published a 14-point FIFA reform plan. UEFA and 54 of its national associations agreed on a direction for reform at the Berlin meeting, with Azerbaijan the exception. The proposals would reduce some presidential powers and remove presidential or executive interference from bodies responsible for ethics and disciplinary oversight.

The plan also calls for FIFA resources not to be used for personal or electoral purposes and for at least $10 million in additional funding for each of the organisation's 211 member associations. UEFA argued that institutional changes alone would be insufficient and called for new leadership alongside those reforms.