Javier Tebas, president of Spain's LaLiga, Spain's top professional football division, has called for the resignation of Gianni Infantino, president of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA).
In an interview with the Italian outlet Gazzetta dello Sport on the 22nd, Korea time, Tebas said, "President Infantino must resign. The time allotted to him is over."
His call for Infantino's resignation stems from missteps at the recent FIFA World Cup in North and Central America. In particular, he strongly criticized the suspension deferral of U.S. national team forward Folarin Balogun, over which suspicions of intervention by U.S. President Donald Trump had arisen. Balogun had initially been sent off in the round of 32 and was subsequently supposed to serve a one-match suspension, but controversy erupted when FIFA abruptly deferred the penalty for one year. In protest, UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) President Aleksander Ceferin boycotted attendance at the final.
"The suspension deferral for the U.S. player was a very serious matter," Tebas said, raising his voice. "It was fortunate (from FIFA's standpoint) that Belgium eliminated the United States. Had the result been different, President Infantino could have lost his position."
He also expressed clear opposition to FIFA's move to expand the number of participating nations at the 2030 World Cup to 64. "Not everything can revolve around the World Cup," he said. "It is the domestic leagues of each country that create tens of thousands of jobs and form the foundation supporting this sport. They are destroying the entire football industry for a mere 40-day event."
He also pointed out that the three-minute mandatory "hydration break" introduced in every match under the pretext of protecting players, and the final's halftime show featuring an all-star lineup of pop stars, were nothing more than commercial gimmicks.
Still, Tebas attached the premise that a resignation is unlikely to materialize, saying, "FIFA's electoral system is fundamentally rotten, so he will never actually step down."
