Mexico Backs Infantino As FIFA President Faces Growing Pressure

The Mexican Football Federation (FMF) has thrown its support behind FIFA president Gianni Infantino, breaking away from Concacaf’s criticism as pressure mounts on the Swiss official following the collapse of his private investment proposal.

Concacaf, the governing body for North and Central America and the Caribbean, recently called for a “comprehensive reckoning” of Infantino’s leadership after he abandoned plans to sell stakes in FIFA competitions, including the men’s and women’s World Cups, to private investors.

Despite Concacaf’s position, 2026 FIFA World Cup co-host Mexico has publicly endorsed Infantino and urged member associations to continue working within FIFA’s established structures.

“The FMF supports president Infantino’s leadership in continuing to promote the development of football through institutional strengthening,” the federation said in a statement.

It also backed the stance taken by South American governing body Conmebol, insisting that any move to remove the FIFA president must involve a vote by all 211 member associations.

“The FMF will neither recognise nor approve any process convened outside of that institutional framework, and it joins the call made by president Infantino to collectively continue developing football for the benefit of the 211 member associations,” the statement added.

While supporting Infantino, Conmebol also criticised the way recent events unfolded, saying it “express its concern about the repeated unilateral actions taken without resorting to dialogue or the institutional mechanisms provided for dealing with this type of situation”.

Argentina’s Football Association also rallied behind the FIFA chief, praising him for acknowledging and apologising for his “errors”. It described his decade in charge as being “centred on the development of soccer worldwide and institutional strength based on a clear, stable, and transparent governance model”.

Infantino continues to enjoy unanimous backing from the Confederation of African Football (CAF), but resistance remains strong in Europe and North America.

UEFA has maintained its opposition despite FIFA abandoning the proposal. Europe’s governing body warned that confidence would not be restored without stronger guarantees.

“Assurances have to be made that such attempts to disfigure the game in this way will never be made again,” a UEFA statement read.

“These conditions have not been met.”

UEFA has previously described the proposed FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) project as a “shabby, back room, opaque deal” and says it has lost confidence in Infantino’s leadership.

The English FA has also withdrawn its support for the 56-year-old, with Wales, Albania and Croatia among the national associations that have distanced themselves from him.

Concacaf accused Infantino of presiding over “a symptom of leadership that has stopped putting football first”, adding that “this recent unilateral and egregious act of poor governance and leadership follows a pattern of missteps and similar behaviour”.

However, unlike UEFA, Concacaf stopped short of declaring that it had lost confidence in the FIFA president.

Before the proposal was withdrawn, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) had aligned itself with UEFA and Concacaf in opposing the plans.

Infantino’s proposal would have handed each FIFA member association $40 million (£30 million) in return for backing private investment in FIFA tournaments through the FIFA Forward Enterprise subsidiary.

Following a meeting of FIFA executives in Morocco on Wednesday, world football’s governing body admitted that “mistakes” had been made during the process. FIFA said it was “not the intention” for the FIFA Council and member associations to “feel excluded from the process and that the process should have been handled differently”.

UEFA, however, remained unmoved. “UEFA made it abundantly clear in its statement on Saturday that it has lost confidence in Gianni Infantino’s presidency. That position holds,” the football body said.

“Yesterday’s announcement that some people employed by the FIFA president (and whose careers depend on his favour) agree with him changes nothing.”