The request from Javier Tebas for Gianni Infantino to leave the presidency of FIFA has reopened the debate about who can remove the highest official of world football.
Although the president of LaLiga has publicly demanded his departure, FIFA's statutes establish that only the Congress, made up of the 211 member national federations, has the authority to elect or dismiss its president.
Who can remove Gianni Infantino from FIFA
The request from Javier Tebas for Gianni Infantino to leave the presidency of FIFA does not itself activate any removal procedure. The president of LaLiga can exert public and political pressure, but is not part of the body that elects or removes the highest official of the international federation.
That power belongs to the FIFA Congress. It includes the affiliated national associations, including the Royal Spanish Football Federation.
The FIFA Congress has the final word
The Congress is the supreme legislative body of FIFA. Each national federation has one vote, regardless of the size of its country, the level of its national team, or the economic weight of its competition.
Among its responsibilities is to elect the president and dismiss individuals holding positions within the organization. Any forced departure of Infantino would therefore have to be submitted to this body and obtain the support required by the statutes.
Neither LaLiga, nor UEFA, nor its president, Aleksander Ceferin, can unilaterally dismiss him. Nor can the government of a country do so.
Infantino could voluntarily leave the position by resigning.
How the president of FIFA is elected
The election is conducted through secret voting by the member federations gathered in Congress. The candidate needs a two-thirds majority in the first vote. If no one reaches that threshold, subsequent rounds are resolved by a simple majority of valid votes.
To present a candidacy, it is necessary to have the formal support of several national associations and to pass the eligibility checks established by the organization.
The president serves a term of four years. The statutes limit the term to three mandates, consecutive or not, although the period that Infantino completed after the departure of Joseph Blatter was not counted as a full mandate.
Infantino wants to run again in 2027
Gianni Infantino announced in April that he will run in the elections scheduled for March 18, 2027, in Morocco. He seeks the mandate corresponding to the 2027-2031 period.
Javier Tebas acknowledges that, despite existing criticisms, the leader maintains strong support among national federations and currently has no rival capable of contesting the presidency.
“There is no opposition candidate; no one wants to run to lose,” declared the president of LaLiga in an interview reported by Reuters.
This structure explains why a rebellion of professional leagues or European federations can provoke a political crisis, but it is not necessarily enough to cause a change. Infantino needs to maintain the support of the associations that vote in the Congress, not that of the clubs or the national championships.
Why Tebas is calling for his departure
Tebas accuses FIFA of expanding international competitions to the detriment of leagues and clubs. His main criticism is directed against the possible expansion of the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams, after the debut of the 48-team format in 2026.
The president of LaLiga argues that the international calendar threatens the competitions that maintain football activity throughout the season and generate tens of thousands of jobs.
He also questions FIFA's disciplinary management and the lack of internal opposition to Infantino. According to Tebas, there are leaders opposed to his decisions who express their discontent in private, but then do not promote an alternative candidacy or act in Congress.