University lecturer and former football club owner Peter Auf der Heyde is seeking to challenge Gianni Infantino in the FIFA presidential election in March 2027, promising to take an annual salary of just $1 (75p) if elected.
The South African, who lectures in journalism at Southampton Solent University, has begun seeking the nomination of five football associations needed to become a candidate.
A former journalist, Auf der Heyde was previously sports editor at Germany’s Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa). He also served as president of the Grahamstown Soccer Association in South Africa and owned and managed second-division club UDW FC in the early 1990s.
“I feel very strongly that there needs to be a challenge in any election,” Auf der Heyde told BBC Radio Solent.
“There should not be an uncontested election, and in this case Infantino needs to be challenged. It’s important for accountability and transparency.”
Auf der Heyde said he had written to all 211 of FIFA’s member associations and had already received replies from the Jamaican and English Football Associations.
“I’m not asking for countries to vote for me, I’m asking for them to nominate me,” he added.
“Once you have a nomination and become an official candidate, you can then ask questions [to other candidates] that you can’t ask otherwise.”
The deadline for candidates to confirm they are standing against Infantino is 18 November.
Auf der Heyde criticised Infantino’s reported earnings of around $6m (£4.49m) last year, describing the figure as “ridiculous”. He said he regarded $450,000 (£337,259) as an adequate salary for the FIFA president, while proposing to defer his own pay.
“I would ask to be paid $1 per year, and after four years, if I have maintained my promises, then I can get the remaining money,” he said.
Infantino is seeking a fourth and final term as FIFA president. He faced calls to stand down after a controversial plan to sell stakes in the governing body’s competitions to private investors, but insisted he had the backing of the “vast, vast majority” of world football and laughed off questions about whether he had considered resigning.
He faces competition from Kozo Tashima, the honorary president of the Japan Football Association, and former Tottenham Hotspur and Switzerland defender Ramon Vega.
Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is also considering standing against him.
‘Emerging nations World Cup’ proposed
A central part of Auf der Heyde’s three-section manifesto is a proposed global tournament for smaller football nations.
Only 48 countries qualify for the men’s World Cup finals every four years, leaving 163 nations outside the competition.
“I’d like to see an emerging nations World Cup,” said Auf der Heyde, who covered 13 consecutive Africa Cup of Nations tournaments as a journalist.
He suggested the competition could involve countries such as Eswatini, Andorra and San Marino, which he said would “quite frankly never qualify for the World Cup”.
“They should be allowed in my view to play for a global competition where only these kind of countries have a chance to play,” he said.
“It would be wonderful if winning teams from that competition could then qualify further for the World Cup.”
