UEFA knows exactly what it wants in a FIFA president. It just doesn't have one yet.
After a full-day meeting of its 55 member federations in Berlin on Thursday, European football's governing body published a pointed job description for Gianni Infantino's replacement: "a respected and unifying figure, deeply rooted in football, with the vision and experience to lead" — plus an "unequivocal commitment to development, reform, integrity and independence." Everything, in other words, that UEFA believes Infantino is not.
The problem is that nobody signed up. UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin confirmed he won't be the candidate, and the search may not stay within Europe. Whoever emerges needs to do so before a November 18 deadline, leaving the campaign window dangerously short before FIFA's presidential election in Rabat, Morocco on March 18.
What pushed UEFA to this point
The breaking point was Infantino's attempt to sell stakes in the World Cup and other tournaments to private investors — a plan floated quietly and then quickly buried once the backlash hit. That episode crystallised years of accumulated frustration with a presidency that UEFA has long viewed as too executive, too secretive, and too comfortable with its own authority.
FIFA's reserves sitting at nearly $6 billion — swelled by a profitable North American World Cup — only sharpened the argument. UEFA is pushing for all 211 FIFA member federations to receive a one-off $10 million dividend from those reserves. It's a shrewd piece of political positioning: promise the smaller federations a direct cash payout, and you make Infantino's bloc harder to hold together.
Ceferin stays, the challenger search continues
Ceferin used Thursday's meeting to confirm he'll stand for a fourth and final UEFA term next April 22 in Astana. His role in this is as orchestrator, not candidate — and that distinction matters. The Slovenian has been the loudest voice pushing for change since July, but UEFA is clearly angling for someone with broader global appeal, someone who can pull votes from confederations outside Europe.
Finding that person in the next few weeks is a different challenge entirely. A sharply worded press release is not a candidate. The clock is running.
