European Leagues (EUFL) has rejected Gianni Infantino’s proposal to expand the World Cup to 64 teams and warned it could boycott future FIFA competitions unless major reforms are made to the organisation’s governance and decision-making processes.
In a statement issued on Wednesday and reported by RMC, the group said FIFA “should no longer be allowed to take unilateral decisions of this magnitude”.
European Leagues said decisions of this kind were contrary to the interests of domestic leagues, clubs, players and supporters. Those groups, it added, are the foundation of the value generated by international competitions.
The organisation said the plan to increase the size of the World Cup was part of the same approach used by FIFA in its recently abandoned project to create a commercial company responsible for managing the commercial and operational rights to its competitions.
According to European Leagues, FIFA gave interested parties no more than four weeks to assess that project and did not hold meaningful consultations with leagues, clubs or players, despite those groups being among the parties most affected by any such decision.
European Leagues has now indicated that it could take further action if FIFA does not make fundamental changes. It said its members might refuse to participate in new FIFA competitions or future expansions of existing tournaments.
The group’s demands focus particularly on governance and the way decisions are made within world football’s governing body.
The latest dispute adds to the pressure on Infantino, who has faced growing criticism from several areas of the international game following the failure of his plan to sell a share of FIFA’s commercial competition rights to private-sector investors.
European Leagues had already filed a complaint with the European Commission two years ago. It accused FIFA of a conflict of interest because the organisation acts both as the regulator of competitions and as the commercial operator responsible for them.
A separate report linked to the wider debate claimed that Infantino had offered Morocco the chance to host a World Cup final in return for a specific service. The source article did not provide further details of the alleged offer.
Former Portugal international Luis Figo has also joined those calling for Infantino to leave his post. In a message published on X, Figo urged the FIFA president to resign and described his conduct as “low”, “deceitful” and “cowardly”.
The dispute follows FIFA’s decision to increase the number of teams at the 2026 World Cup to 48. That expansion was agreed despite concerns over the added demands on the competition and the wider football calendar.
The proposed increase to 64 teams appears to be facing stronger opposition, particularly from European football’s domestic competitions, which are already warning against further unilateral changes.
Infantino is seeking to strengthen his position ahead of the FIFA presidential election scheduled for 2027. The resistance from European Leagues represents the latest challenge to his plans and comes after the collapse of his commercial rights initiative.
