La Liga president Javier Tebas has urged Fifa leader Gianni Infantino to step down, accusing world football’s governing body of “destroying the football industry” by relentlessly expanding international tournaments at the expense of domestic leagues.
In a strongly worded intervention, Tebas said Infantino’s tenure as Fifa president “should end” and claimed the current power structure meant there was effectively no democratic challenge to his leadership.
“In my opinion, yes, I think his time is up,” Tebas told Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport when asked directly whether Infantino should resign.
Infantino announced in April that he would stand for a fourth term as Fifa president, with the election for the 2027-2031 cycle due to be held in Morocco on 18 March next year.
‘System is flawed from the ground up’
Tebas, a long-standing critic of Fifa over fixture congestion and World Cup expansion, said Infantino continues to enjoy strong backing from national federations despite mounting unease in other parts of the game.
“He shouldn’t stay, but the current state of affairs means he won’t leave,” Tebas said. “There’s no opposition candidate; no one wants to run to lose. This is the system, and it’s a system that’s flawed from the ground up.
“I’ve heard a lot of people against Infantino, who don’t agree with what he’s doing. They say it, but then they don’t do anything.”
The La Liga president argues that Fifa’s strategy of enlarging international competitions is undermining the domestic calendar that clubs and leagues rely on for their financial survival.
“The football industry isn’t just the World Cup, which is the most important event. But not everything can revolve around the World Cup. It’s the national competitions that sustain this sport.
“They’re destroying the football industry, the one that generates tens of thousands of jobs for an event that lasts 40 days and only a minority of players attends.”
Balogun suspension ‘extremely serious matter’
Tebas also attacked Fifa’s handling of disciplinary matters at the World Cup, highlighting the organisation’s decision to delay a one-match ban given to United States striker Folarin Balogun after a red card.
The suspension was postponed following the intervention of US President Donald Trump, with the United States eventually beaten 4-1 by Belgium in the last 16.
“The suspension of the American player’s ban is an extremely serious matter. They were lucky that Belgium eliminated the US, because otherwise a case could have arisen that might have cost Infantino his job.
“Since Belgium won, they managed to bury the matter. But these things are just the tip of the iceberg.”
Rifts at the top of world football
Tebas’s comments come amid widening tensions between Fifa and other major football institutions.
Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin did not attend Sunday’s World Cup final after a series of disputes between European football’s governing body and Fifa over disciplinary processes, refereeing arrangements and match operations, a source with direct knowledge of the situation told Reuters.
The disagreements add to a growing sense of strain within football’s global governance, with Europe’s leading leagues and clubs increasingly vocal about the pressure placed on players and domestic schedules.
World Cup expansion ‘makes no sense’
Central to Tebas’s criticism is Fifa’s continued appetite for an enlarged World Cup.
Current plans will already see the men’s tournament expanded, but CONMEBOL president Alejandro Dominguez has renewed calls for the centenary edition in 2030 to feature 64 teams. Infantino has previously acknowledged that such a format could be considered in future.
Tebas warned that any further increase in participating nations would deepen the squeeze on domestic competitions and the broader football economy.
“Increasing the number of national teams makes no sense,” he said.
He insisted that chasing ever-larger global events risked hollowing out the structures that sustain the sport year-round.
“They’re destroying the football industry, the one that generates tens of thousands of jobs for an event that lasts 40 days and only a minority of players attends.”
