It is interesting to see how two Italians are battling for control of FIFA, the international football federation. One, the disgraced incumbent president, is the Italian–Swiss Gianni Infantino. The other, the challenger, is Italian-Canadian Vittorio (Victor) Montagliani, who’s also FIFA’s vice president and president of CONCACAF — the North American and Caribbean football confederation. Both are fluent in Italian (and speak English and French).
And this battle is going on while Italy’s national football team did not even qualify for FIFA’s 2026 World Cup. But while the Italian team’s exclusion is viewed as a domestic issue reflecting the financial interests of Italy’s premiere league, Serie A, owners, the corporate in-fighting at FIFA is looked at purely as a philosophical play between two camps — those who see football (soccer in the U.S. and Canada) as a money-making opportunity vs. those who see it as a social institution.
For the commercial logic, Infantino’s supporters are some of South America’s teams, grouped under CONMEBOL, the South American football federation, and a few of the teams under the Asian Football Confederation (which includes Arab countries), as well as the Confederation of African Football.
On the institutional logic side are UEFA, the European football federation, and CONCACAF. UEFA’s 55 associations and CONCACAF’s 41 members lack the numbers on their own to oust Infantino as FIFA president (106 votes out of 211 are required), but UEFA and CONCACAF are actively building alliances, and Victor Montagliani (previously earmarked as a 2031 candidate but now determined to run immediately) could change CONMEBOL’s stance on Infantino.
The 56-year-old Giovanni (Gianni) Vincenzo Infantino was born in Brig, south of Switzerland, to Italian immigrants (from the Calabria and Lombardy regions) and he has been FIFA president since 2016. Previously he served as UEFA’a secretary general from 2009.
The 61-year-old Vittorio Montagliani was born in Vancouver, Canada, to Italian immigrants (from the Abruzzo region). He became CONCACAF’s president and FIFA’s vice president in 2016.
In addition to the privatization of the world’s football, Infantino has been criticized for introducing hydration breaks (to add more TV commercial time to televised matches) and a half-time show, for rescinding a red (expulsion) card from an American player following “input” from U.S. president Donald Trump, for giving Trump a made-up “peace” prize, and for giving severance pay to a reported former lover.
Pictured above: Infantino, l., and Montagliani
Leave A Comment