Norway demands Infantino resign as Mexico and Argentina back FIFA president

Coverage spread: 5 sources — 1 left · 3 international · 1 unrated

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Where they agree

Norway’s federation, led by Lise Klaveness, became the first to explicitly call for Gianni Infantino’s resignation over his abandoned World Cup investment sell-off plan.
Mexico and Argentina publicly backed Infantino, breaking from the more critical stances of their regional confederations, CONCACAF and CONMEBOL respectively.
The failed proposal involved offering member associations roughly $40 million each for private investment stakes in FIFA competitions, including the World Cup.
UEFA remains the strongest bloc against Infantino, with England, Wales, Croatia and Albania withdrawing support, while CONMEBOL and Africa’s confederation back him.

Where they differ

The Guardian gives the most detail on Klaveness’s direct quotes and Norway’s ethics committee complaint plans, including the Trump-related peace prize and Balogun controversies.
Al Jazeera frames the story around a broader continental “civil war,” emphasizing Africa’s unanimous backing of Infantino a day before Argentina and Mexico’s statements.
The Guardian and BBC both note speculation that Mexico could switch from CONCACAF to CONMEBOL, a detail Al Jazeera mentions only briefly and Yahoo’s condensed pieces omit entirely.
BBC and Yahoo’s coverage is comparatively thin (largely summary/wire-style), while the Guardian and Al Jazeera provide fuller statements from AFA, FMF, and CONMEBOL.

Norway’s football federation has become the first national association to formally call for FIFA president Gianni Infantino to resign, following his abandoned plan to sell private-investment stakes in the World Cup. The move came the same week Mexico and Argentina broke with regional allies to publicly back Infantino, exposing a widening split in world football’s governance.

What exactly did Norway say?

The Norwegian Football Federation (NFF) board met on Thursday, August 6, 2026, and decided it had lost all trust in Infantino. NFF president Lise Klaveness, a lawyer and longtime Infantino critic, told the Guardian and BBC that “the trust is now gone for us, there is no way back for Infantino,” and said Norway would formally ask him to resign immediately via a letter in the coming week. She said Infantino “does not have the institutional trust required to govern Fifa stably in the times we are in.” Norway is not calling for an emergency UEFA board meeting but wants the resignation request made directly through dialogue with FIFA.

Norway is also demanding a full review of the reform package adopted when Infantino became president in 2016 — reforms meant to move FIFA past its earlier corruption scandals — asking what was actually implemented. The NFF plans to file a fresh ethics committee complaint covering three issues: the failed FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) investment scheme, the awarding of FIFA’s inaugural peace prize to Donald Trump in December 2025, and the reversal of a suspension for American forward Folarin Balogun during the World Cup, reportedly after a phone call from Trump. Norway says it will try to recruit other European federations to join that complaint.

What was the investment plan that triggered the crisis?

Infantino had proposed selling commercial rights and offering private investment into FIFA competitions, including the men’s and women’s World Cups, through the FFE subsidiary, reportedly offering each member association $40 million (£30 million) to back it. The plan collapsed under backlash, and FIFA has since apologized to its 211 member associations and pledged to review the processes involved, while still standing behind Infantino, according to a statement following a meeting in Rabat.

Why did Mexico and Argentina break from their regions?

Mexico’s federation (FMF) split from CONCACAF, which had demanded a “comprehensive reckoning” with Infantino’s presidency, and instead said it would “not recognise or approve any process convened outside” FIFA’s institutional framework, endorsing Infantino’s leadership. There is speculation, noted by the Guardian, that Mexico may even be considering switching confederations to join CONMEBOL. Argentina’s federation (AFA) went further than its own confederation, CONMEBOL, sending a statement praising a decade of Infantino’s leadership, acknowledging the investment plan created more uncertainty than confidence and that mistakes were made, but calling for football to keep working under his leadership ahead of the FIFA Congress scheduled for March 2026 in Morocco, where Infantino is expected to seek re-election.

CONMEBOL, South America’s governing body, issued its own statement rejecting any attempt to remove Infantino without a vote of all 211 FIFA members, while still voicing concern about his “repeated unilateral actions” taken without dialogue. CONMEBOL president Alejandro Dominguez publicly stood alongside Infantino on Friday at the inauguration of Colombia’s new president. Africa’s confederation had already voted unanimously to back Infantino a day earlier.

Where do the confederations line up?

UEFA remains Infantino’s most determined opponent, confirming this week it stands by a vote to boycott FIFA events, and England, Wales, Croatia and Albania have all withdrawn support for his leadership — though none, besides Norway, has explicitly demanded he resign. CONCACAF has called for a governance review and broadly backs UEFA’s push for change but has not threatened a boycott. CONMEBOL and Africa’s confederation are aligned behind Infantino, and Mexico and Argentina’s individual statements reinforce that camp even as their own confederations show more caution.

What happens next?

Norway plans to send its resignation letter within days and is trying to build European support for an ethics complaint, but has stopped short of demanding an emergency UEFA meeting. FIFA’s presidential election is due at its Congress in Morocco in March 2026, where Infantino is expected to run again. The scale of the divide between UEFA-aligned federations and those in the Americas and Africa leaves FIFA’s governing structure in an unusually open standoff heading into that vote.