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Africa and South America back Infantino without hesitation, Europe won’t touch him, and Asia and North and Central America are each fractured from within. CAF’s 54 members and CONMEBOL’s 10 give him a floor of 64 votes before any other confederation is counted. But Mexico’s football federation broke publicly from CONCACAF’s official stance, and five AFC nations have quietly sided with Infantino against their own confederation’s line. That single crack, more than any formal statement, is what makes this leadership fight genuinely undecided seven months before Rabat.
Seven confederations control FIFA’s presidential vote, and as of August 7-8, 2026, they split into three camps. CAF and CONMEBOL back Infantino outright. UEFA and CONCACAF leadership stand against him, while AFC’s official line is softer than either. OFC, the smallest bloc at 11 members, has issued no decisive statement either way.
The table below lays out where each bloc stood as positions hardened this week.
| Confederation | Stance on Infantino (Aug 7-8, 2026) | Members | Latest Statement |
| UEFA | Against, boycott maintained; Norway calling for resignation | 55 | Aug 7, 2026 |
| CAF | Backing, unanimously backed at Rabat; Motsepe an Infantino ally | 54 | Aug 7, 2026 |
| AFC | Mixed, officially with UEFA and CONCACAF; Qatar, Indonesia, Kuwait backing individually | 47 | Aug 7, 2026 |
| CONCACAF | Against, comprehensive reckoning demanded; Mexico FMF breaks ranks to back | 41 | Aug 7, 2026 |
| CONMEBOL | Backing, rejects ouster outside 211-member vote; Argentina also backs | 10 | Aug 7, 2026 |
CAF’s 54 members and CONMEBOL’s 10 already hand Infantino 64 votes without touching the two undecided blocs.
Africa’s backing was confirmed at meetings in Rabat on August 7, the same city hosting March 2027’s election congress. CAF president Patrice Motsepe is a long-serving ally, and all 54 member federations have resolved to vote for a fourth term. CONMEBOL’s ten members reached a similar position, insisting any leadership change must run through FIFA’s own 211-member congress rather than an outside process.
Individual nations elsewhere have joined them too, and this is where the numbers get interesting. Indonesia, Qatar, Kuwait, Sri Lanka and the Philippines, all AFC members, have broken from their own confederation’s joint statement to back him directly. Five separate national federations siding against their regional body’s official line is not a footnote; it is evidence that AFC’s unity on this issue is thinner than its formal statement suggests.
Mexico’s federation, co-host of next year’s World Cup, went further than any AFC dissenter. It refused to recognize any process convened outside FIFA’s institutional framework and explicitly embraced the call issued on August 5. Speculation has since grown that Mexico could eventually seek a switch from CONCACAF to CONMEBOL altogether.
Argentina’s federation took a related but distinct position, acknowledging that mistakes had been made while insisting they should be resolved inside FIFA rather than through a change of leadership. Neither nation is walking away from the institution to make its point.
UEFA reaffirmed its boycott on August 7 without qualification, and the list of formal withdrawals has grown steadily since. Wales and England retracted their nomination support on August 3, with Albania and Croatia following suit on August 7.
Norway is preparing the most aggressive response yet, a formal resignation request paired with an ethics committee complaint covering three separate issues. Those are the FIFA Forward Enterprise collapse, the peace prize awarded to Donald Trump, and the Folarin Balogun affair from the 2026 World Cup. No European federation has broken ranks the way Mexico or the five AFC nations have, and that solidarity is precisely what makes Europe’s bloc so difficult for Infantino to crack.
UEFA’s 55 combined with CONCACAF’s 35 voting members reach only 90, short of the 106 needed to elect a challenger outright. Adding most of AFC’s 47 would clear that bar, but AFC is not moving as a bloc. Five of its members already back Infantino publicly, a fracture worth watching more than any press release.
Mexico’s dissent inside CONCACAF proves the same point differently: formal positions no longer guarantee unified votes. The clearest way to read where FIFA confederations support Gianni Infantino is to count individual defections, not headline statements. November 18, when nominations formally close, is when this arithmetic finally stops being theoretical.
Which way is your federation leaning on this fight? Let us know in the comments.
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Why did Mexico break from CONCACAF to support Infantino?
Mexico’s federation refused to recognize any process convened outside FIFA’s institutional framework. It has also drawn speculation over a possible future switch from CONCACAF to CONMEBOL.
What did Africa’s football confederation say about Infantino?
CAF unanimously backed Infantino at meetings in Rabat on August 7. All 54 member federations have resolved to support his bid for a fourth term as president.
Is UEFA still boycotting FIFA under Infantino?
Yes, UEFA confirmed on August 7 that its boycott remains fully in place with no sign of easing. Norway is separately preparing a formal resignation request alongside an ethics committee complaint on three counts.
What is the FIFA World Cup commercial rights plan Infantino proposed?
FIFA Forward Enterprise was a plan to sell a 20 percent World Cup stake to private investors for 4.2 billion dollars. It was scrapped on August 1 after a unanimous UEFA boycott vote.
When is the next FIFA Congress vote on leadership?
The 77th FIFA Congress meets March 18, 2027, in Rabat, Morocco. Candidacy nominations for the presidency close much earlier, on November 18, 2026, the real deadline to watch.
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