Victor Montagliani has informed Concacaf staff that he plans to seek re-election as president of the confederation next year, a decision that effectively removes him from contention for the Fifa presidency against incumbent Gianni Infantino.
The Canadian official is said to have communicated his intentions to the majority of Concacaf's 41 member associations across North and Central America and the Caribbean. His name had frequently surfaced as a possible challenger to Infantino, especially among Uefa associations who recognize that a candidate from Europe would struggle to prevail in a vote spanning Fifa's 211 members.
According to reports, Montagliani addressed the matter during a town hall meeting with Concacaf staff last month. Despite ongoing governance turmoil at Fifa and pressure for him to enter the race, he reportedly expressed a desire to remain focused on serving the region he currently leads.
The timing of the two elections played a role in prompting Montagliani's clarification. Concacaf's presidential vote is scheduled for the first quarter of next year, shortly before Fifa's own presidential election set for March 18 in Rabat, Morocco.
Montagliani, 61, first won the Concacaf presidency a decade ago on a platform of reform, taking charge in the aftermath of a major corruption scandal that led to the arrest of his predecessor, Jeffrey Webb, following an FBI investigation. Webb later admitted to accepting what he described as "bribes and kickbacks."
Separately, Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin confirmed during a meeting of the confederation's 55 member associations in Berlin that he intends to run for another term. Ceferin had previously stated in February 2024 that he would not pursue a fourth term, though speculation about a reversal had persisted. A prior amendment to Uefa's statutes excluded his first partial term from counting toward the organization's three-term limit, paving the way for his continued candidacy.
Should he win again, Ceferin—who has held the Uefa presidency since September 2016—would be positioned to remain in office for more than 15 years overall. Many European federations view this prospect favorably given the current instability in football governance, and it also eliminates any possibility that Ceferin might challenge Infantino for the top Fifa post.
Montagliani and Ceferin are anticipated to keep collaborating on pushing for governance reforms within Fifa in the wake of the World Cup sell-off controversy, a topic expected to feature prominently at a Fifa council meeting scheduled for next Thursday in Zurich. That gathering will mark the council's first since details of Infantino's Fifa Forward Enterprise initiative came to light in July, despite repeated member requests for an emergency session. It will be the first council meeting since Fifa's congress in Vancouver last March.
Alongside Ceferin, Montagliani and Asian Football Confederation president Salman bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa are expected to press for an independent investigation into the Fifa Forward Enterprise plan and call for wider institutional reforms that would strengthen stakeholder input and formalize the council's authority in major decisions. The three had already written to Infantino last month urging that a share of Fifa's roughly $6 billion in cash reserves be distributed to member associations—a request likely to resurface at the Zurich meeting.
During the Berlin gathering, Uefa delegates also discussed a broader reform framework for Fifa, with key proposals made public afterward. These included calls for "a president who leads, not manages," improved "ethics, disciplinary, audit and compliance" mechanisms, and a transparent process for major institutional decisions.
Not all members were supportive, however. Azerbaijan declined to back Uefa's reform proposals. Notably, the country's former football federation general secretary, Elkhan Mammadov, now serves as Fifa's chief member associations officer and has reportedly played a significant role in maintaining support for Infantino amid the ongoing crisis. Azerbaijan is also due to host the inaugural Fifa Under-15 World Cup later this month, with Russia among the participating nations.
Based on reporting from Guardian Football.