Gianni Infantino is facing the loudest call yet for him to walk away from the Fifa presidency. Noel Mooney, chief executive of the Football Association of Wales, has said the Swiss administrator should step down because of the “harm that’s been done to football”. What gives the intervention its edge is Mooney’s own background: he worked alongside Infantino at Uefa. With the 2026 World Cup less than a year away, Fifa’s governance is back on the front page — and English football has plenty riding on the answer.
What Noel Mooney actually said
Mooney’s position is that Infantino’s time is up. “If I was sitting with Gianni right now, I would say to him he’s had a very good career,” he said. “As general secretary of Uefa he did very good things.” It is praise delivered as a full stop rather than a compliment.
His case rests on the “harm that’s been done to football”, and he is explicit that the judgement stands even though the controversial sell-off plan has been scrapped. In other words, the retreat does not undo the damage in his view.
The source matters as much as the message. Mooney is not an outside commentator — he was a Uefa executive before taking charge at the FAW. When someone from inside the European governance system publicly calls for a resignation, it registers differently.
The World Cup sell-off plan at the centre of the row
The trigger was Fifa’s attempt to sell stakes in the World Cup and other competitions to private investors. The plan has since been scrapped, but it crystallised criticism that had been building for months around how the organisation is run.
Opponents argue that a tournament effectively owned by Fifa’s 211 member associations should not be converted into a tradable financial asset. That is the line Mooney believes was crossed, regardless of the eventual U-turn.
Dropping the proposal has shifted the question rather than settled it. The argument is no longer whether to sell, but who gets to make that call and what safeguards exist.
A decade of Infantino at Fifa
Infantino has been Fifa president since 2016, taking over in the wake of the crisis that ended the previous era. His tenure is most closely associated with the expansion of the World Cup to 48 teams, a format that debuts at the 2026 tournament in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Before Fifa he was Uefa general secretary, a period his critics still rate — Mooney included, who went out of his way to separate the two chapters of the career.
That contrast frames the whole dispute. The pushback is not about the football product; it is about process, transparency and the commercial direction of the governing body.
Why England and the Premier League should care
For English football the stakes are practical. The FA and Premier League clubs operate inside a framework Fifa shapes: the international match calendar, release rules for national teams, club benefits payments and the place of an expanded Club World Cup in an already crowded season.
Player workload is the sharpest edge of that debate. Clubs such as Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool send large groups of internationals away during Fifa windows and then absorb the fixture pile-up afterwards. Decisions made in Zurich land directly on Premier League training grounds.
There is also the England angle. Thomas Tuchel’s squad heads into 2026 among the contenders, and a governance row at the top of the sport is an unhelpful backdrop for everything from logistics to broadcast planning in the build-up.
What happens next
As it stands, Mooney’s call is the position of one national association. There is no indication yet that it has become a collective European push, and no formal process has been launched against Infantino.
Timing matters too. Governing bodies traditionally avoid open institutional crises in the months before a World Cup, which could push any serious reckoning past the summer of 2026.
The measurable test is straightforward: whether Fifa commits, in writing, to clear rules on the ownership and control of its competitions. That will tell supporters more than any statement from either side.
FAQ
Who is Noel Mooney?
He is the chief executive of the Football Association of Wales. Before joining the FAW he worked at Uefa, where he was a colleague of Gianni Infantino during Infantino’s time as the European body’s general secretary.
Why does he want Infantino to step down?
He points to the ‘harm that’s been done to football’, particularly around Fifa’s attempt to sell stakes in the World Cup and other competitions to private investors. He argues that scrapping the plan does not repair the damage.
Did Fifa actually sell part of the World Cup?
No. The sell-off plan was scrapped. That is central to Mooney’s argument: he believes the proposal itself caused harm even though it never went ahead.
How long has Gianni Infantino been Fifa president?
Since 2016. He previously served as general secretary of Uefa.
Could this disrupt the 2026 World Cup?
There is no sign the tournament itself is affected. The dispute concerns Fifa’s governance and commercial strategy rather than the staging of the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
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