"They're destroying the football industry." That's Javier Tebas, La Liga president, on FIFA — and he didn't stop there. In an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport, Tebas called on Gianni Infantino to resign, saying plainly: "In my opinion, yes, I think his time is up."
This isn't a new feud. Tebas has been taking shots at FIFA for years over fixture congestion and the relentless push to expand international competitions. But the timing here is pointed — Infantino just oversaw a 48-team World Cup and is now eyeing a fourth presidential term, with elections set for Morocco on March 18, 2026.
Why no one's actually challenging Infantino
Tebas knows the math. Even as criticism of Infantino grows louder inside the game, there's no opposition candidate willing to step up. "No one wants to run to lose," he said. "I've heard a lot of people against Infantino, who don't agree with what he's doing. They say it, but then they don't do anything."
That's the real problem. Dissatisfaction without action is just background noise. Infantino holds the support of enough national federations to cruise to re-election, and everyone inside the system knows it. Tebas himself admits: "He shouldn't stay, but the current state of affairs means he won't leave."
He also raised the Folarin Balogun suspension saga — where a red card ban was postponed following intervention by U.S. President Donald Trump during the World Cup. Belgium ended up beating the United States 4-1, which Tebas says is the only reason the story didn't explode into a full-blown crisis. "Since Belgium won, they managed to bury the matter. But these things are just the tip of the iceberg."
The 64-team World Cup threat
CONMEBOL president Alejandro Dominguez has renewed calls to expand the 2030 centenary World Cup to 64 teams, and Infantino has already signalled openness to the idea. Tebas is unambiguous about what that means for clubs and domestic leagues:
- More international windows eating into domestic calendars
- Player availability further squeezed for clubs funding the pyramid
- A 40-day tournament absorbing resources from competitions that run year-round
"The football industry isn't just the World Cup," Tebas said. "It's the national competitions that sustain this sport. Increasing the number of national teams makes no sense."
He has a point that's hard to argue with financially. Domestic leagues — La Liga, the Premier League, Serie A, the Bundesliga — generate the vast majority of club revenue and employ tens of thousands of people year-round. A bloated World Cup doesn't compensate them for what they lose in the process. Anyone pricing long-term broadcast deals or club valuations tied to European competition should be watching this tension closely.
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin skipped Sunday's World Cup final entirely, with sources indicating a breakdown in relations between UEFA and FIFA over disciplinary procedures and match operations. When the heads of the two most powerful football bodies in the world stop sharing the same room, that's not a diplomatic wrinkle — it's a structural fracture.
Infantino will almost certainly be re-elected in March. The system, as Tebas says, is flawed from the ground up.
