By Paul Nicholson
January 28 – A European rival to Gianni Infantino is preparing an election campaign to topple the FIFA president at the next congress this June in Paris.
Infantino is currently serving out the remainder of the three-year term he was handed following the resignation of former president Sepp Blatter.
The deadline for entering the presidential race is February 5.
It is understood the rival candidate is not currently tied to a national federation but is a former player who for the past 15 years has been working in the football business globally. He is expected to formally announce his candidature at the end of the coming week.
He is currently securing the five national federation nominations required to stand in the election.
Since taking over as FIFA president Infantino has worked hard and aggressively to make sure all his national federation supporters have been in key positions in continental federations. Any rival will have to work hard to unseat him but there is enough resentment of Infantino’s leadership, especially within Europe with his plans to reorganise the international club and national team calendar, to make his re-election far from comfortable.
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