+ Lise Klaveness, President of the Norwegian Football Association
The Athletic writes that Klaveness played a key role when the European Football Association (Uefa) held an emergency meeting last week. Only Uefa president Alexander Ceferin and Welsh vice-president Laura McAllister had a more prominent role during the meeting.
Klaveness has long been critical of FIFA's leadership under Infantino.
+ Victor Montagliani, President of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) and one of FIFA's Vice-Presidents
Like Infantino, he was elected in 2016 on promises of reforms that would move FIFA forward. According to the BBC, he is not a big supporter of a World Cup every two years or expanding the tournament to 64 teams.
Montagliani has faced strong criticism over the years. Among other things, he has been accused of covering up an investigation into sexual allegations. He is said to have failed to take abuse allegations from 2008 against a coach of Canada's U20 women's national team seriously enough, according to The Guardian.
+ Nasser al-Khelaifi, chairman of the French major club Paris Saint-Germain and chairman of the club team organisation EFC (European Football Clubs)
According to several media outlets, including Politico, the Qatari is UEFA's first choice to challenge Infantino. However, a spokesman for al-Khelaifi has said that the 52-year-old has no interest in becoming FIFA president. The Qatar Football Association has also publicly supported Infantino's re-election.
Al-Khelaifi, who is chairman of the media company BeIN Media Group, has been criticised and suspected of irregularities when the television company received the broadcasting rights to the World Cup, according to the AP. He denied any wrongdoing and was acquitted in December 2025 by Switzerland's highest court.
+ Salman bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa, President of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and one of FIFA's Vice-Presidents
The Bahrain-born sheikh has opposed plans to expand the World Cup to 64 teams, writes Reuters. The AFC has also been critical of FIFA's governance since Infantino's failed World Cup plan. al-Khalifa is the latest person to pose a threat to Infantino in the FIFA presidential election. He lost in 2016 by a 27-vote margin to the Swiss.
Ahead of the 2016 elections, several human rights organisations were critical of the sheikh. As part of the al-Khalifa family, which rules Bahrain autocratically, he was accused of being part of the persecution of dissident athletes during the 2011 Arab Spring. He has denied all charges.
+ Ali bin al-Hussein, President of the Jordanian Football Association
The prince of the Jordanian royal family was previously seen as an alternative to the bigwigs Sepp Blatter and Gianni Infantino. In 2015, he ran against Blatter and was described as the “candidate of change.” In the election, he received 73 votes to Blatter's 133. The following year, against Infantino and al-Khalifa, he received only four votes.
+ Mattias Grafström, Secretary General of FIFA and Infantino's right-hand man
The 45-year-old Swedish top official comes from Uppsala and has both Swedish and Dutch citizenship. Grafström and Infantino have worked together for a long time - since their days at UEFA, and both moved to FIFA in 2016. Grafström replaced Fatma Samoura from Senegal as secretary general in 2024.
FIFA's next presidential election will take place at the congress in Morocco in March next year. November 18 is the last day to run.
