German FA President Calls Infantino FIFA Reform Offer a ‘Ploy’

Gianni Infantino’s attempt to steady FIFA’s latest governance row has been publicly rejected by one of the people sitting on FIFA’s own Council.

German Football Association president Bernd Neuendorf has called Infantino’s offer of an independent review a “transparent ploy” to help secure his re-election next March and says the FIFA president has “squandered all credibility”.

“Gianni Infantino is definitely not the right person to lead a reform process. He has squandered all credibility.”

Neuendorf’s intervention comes after the collapse of FIFA Forward Enterprise, the proposal to place major commercial rights into a new subsidiary valued at around $20 billion and potentially sell roughly 20% to outside investors.

The plan could have provided FIFA’s 211 member associations with up to $40 million each across the 2027-30 cycle, but UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation and CONCACAF all objected to the way it had been developed.

By the end of July, the proposal had been dropped. FIFA later acknowledged that mistakes had been made and apologised for leaving Council members and national associations feeling excluded from the process.

Infantino has since written to all 211 associations offering an independent external review of FIFA’s governance, including how major decisions are taken and how power is divided between the president, Bureau, Council and Congress.

Neuendorf agrees that reform is needed. His objection is to Infantino being the man leading it.

The timing adds another edge to the row. Infantino will seek re-election at the FIFA Congress in Rabat on 18 March 2027, while Reuters reports that he is still believed to have enough support among member associations to win another term.

With opponents yet to settle on a challenger, some of the resistance has shifted towards limiting the powers attached to the FIFA presidency itself.

European associations meet in Berlin on 8 and 9 October before the FIFA Council gathers on 15 October.

Neuendorf will be involved in both, with FIFA’s argument now moving beyond one abandoned investment plan and into a much bigger question over how the organisation is actually run.