German FA president dismisses Infantino's reform pledge as re-election ploy

DFB president Bernd Neuendorf publicly condemned FIFA president Gianni Infantino on Tuesday, calling his freshly circulated reform pledge a calculated attempt to salvage his re-election bid rather than a genuine commitment to change.

Infantino sent a letter to all 211 FIFA member associations and FIFA Council members on Monday evening, proposing an “independent external review of Fifa’s current governance framework” and insisting his abandoned plan to sell a 20 percent stake in FIFA tournaments to private investors had never threatened the organisation’s “democratic processes, independence and sporting authority.”

“I regard Gianni Infantino’s letter as a transparent ploy to secure his re-election next year,” Neuendorf said. “Fundamentally, Fifa now seems to have recognised that changes are essential. However, Gianni Infantino is definitely not the right person to lead a reform process. He has squandered all credibility.”

The backlash against Infantino has been building for weeks. UEFA led calls for his resignation and threatened to boycott FIFA competitions, with numerous UEFA member associations formally withdrawing their support for the Swiss-Italian ahead of the March 2027 presidential election. Opposition has also emerged from the Asian confederation and CONCACAF, which represents nations across North and Central America and the Caribbean.

Germany has been among the most vocal critics. The DFB announced in July that it had not signed a letter of support for Infantino’s re-election, with the governing body stating that “further steps will be discussed in the DFB presidential board.”

Former Germany national team director Oliver Bierhoff echoed that sentiment. “We have to take care of football,” he said. “It is already commercial but it is a property for all of football. The world views may be different but in the last weeks and months a lot happened so that we have no trust any more that it will be going in the right direction.”

Infantino was forced to abandon the private-investment scheme after it triggered a fierce institutional revolt, but he has so far resisted pressure to step down entirely. Whether his reform letter will be enough to rebuild bridges with disaffected confederations before the 2027 vote remains deeply uncertain.