By Rohith Nair
Aug 17 (Reuters) – Human rights organisation FairSquare has urged FIFA to rule that Gianni Infantino is ineligible to seek another term as president, arguing he has already served the maximum three terms permitted under the body’s statutes.
FIFA presidents are limited to three terms in office.
However, in 2022 Infantino successfully argued that his first spell in charge, which began when he was elected at an Extraordinary Congress in 2016 following Sepp Blatter’s resignation, should not count towards that limit because it completed an interrupted mandate.
In a letter sent to FIFA’s Governance, Audit and Compliance Committee (GACC) as reported by The Athletic, FairSquare said that interpretation was inconsistent with FIFA statutes.
“The complaint we have filed provides clear evidence that this is a clear breach of the rules and one that sets a very dangerous precedent,” FairSquare director Nicholas McGeehan told Reuters.
“The rules state clearly that three presidential terms is the maximum allowed, FIFA can’t simply circumvent this rule — which serves as a check on presidential power — by saying that his first term doesn’t count.”
Infantino is facing mounting 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 to take place in Morocco on March 18.
Last week, UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation and CONCACAF called for 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 said the three confederations viewed the letter as an opportunity for Infantino to quit with his dignity intact.
Several national associations have also voiced concerns. 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 backing of the African and South American confederations.
FIFA did not respond to a request for comment but in December 2022, the FIFA Council had unanimously confirmed that the period between 2016 and 2019 does not count as a term of office for Infantino.
LACK OF TRANSPARENCY QUESTIONED
FairSquare also questioned the transparency of the 2022 ruling, saying the committee’s reasoning had never been made public.
“The fact they didn’t provide any reasoning to support this claim, and that they announced the apparent decision two days before the final of the Qatar 2022 World Cup, suggests that they knew full well that there was no basis to discount Infantino’s first term,” McGeehan said.
The letter to the GACC was drafted with assistance from Miguel Maduro, the former head of FIFA’s independent Governance and Review Committee, who said the governing body could not disregard 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 of office,” Maduro said in a statement.
“Trying to carve out an exception to such a rule for Mr Infantino reveals both a resistance to the principle of term limits and how some at FIFA conceive of rules not as rules but as obstacles to be circumvented.”
(Reporting by Rohith Nair and Karan Prashant Saxena in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)
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