Javier Tebas has renewed his criticism of FIFA president Gianni Infantino, saying the Swiss must leave his position and warning that the governing body’s decision to withdraw a proposal to privatise competitions does not resolve its wider governance problems.
The president of La Liga said the withdrawal was welcome, but argued it should not be treated as the end of the matter. Tebas believes the controversy surrounding FIFA goes far beyond one proposal and requires a change of leadership at the organisation.
“Infantino must not continue. FIFA’s withdrawal of its proposal to privatise competitions is good news. But it would be a serious mistake to believe that the governance problem has been resolved,” Tebas wrote on his X account.
He called on football’s confederations, national associations, leagues and players to continue examining the issue rather than accepting FIFA’s decision as a satisfactory conclusion.
“The confederations, associations, leagues and players must not be satisfied with this withdrawal and consider the matter closed. The problem is much deeper,” Tebas added.
The La Liga president referred to a series of issues which he said had already raised concerns about how FIFA is run. Among them, he cited the withdrawal of a red card following what he described as political interference, the dropping of prosecutions linked to historic corruption cases at FIFA and the high cost of tickets for the World Cup.
“Have we already forgotten the revocation of the red card following political interference? The dropping of prosecutions in historic corruption cases at FIFA? The scandalous prices of World Cup tickets?” Tebas wrote.
He also criticised what he described as unilateral decisions over the international football calendar, the creation of new competitions and changes to their formats. According to Tebas, those decisions were taken without genuine dialogue or agreement with the parties affected.
“Unilateral decisions concerning the dates of international matches, new competitions and their formats, taken without genuine dialogue or agreement with the parties concerned? The problem was never simply one proposal,” he wrote.
Tebas concluded that Infantino should no longer remain in charge of FIFA and said football required a different direction.
“For all these reasons, I believe that Gianni Infantino should not remain at the head of FIFA. Football needs new leadership. Withdrawing one proposal does not erase everything that has happened. This is only the tip of the iceberg,” Tebas said.
His intervention represents another public attack on Infantino from the La Liga president, who says FIFA’s decision to abandon its privatisation proposal should be viewed as only one step rather than a full solution to the governing body’s problems.
