Players demand Infantino quits as Fifa president faces revolt from inside his own structure

Gianni Infantino is facing a coordinated player revolt over his leadership of Fifa, with current and former stars — including a member of one of the governing body’s own advisory panels — publicly demanding change at the top of world football.

Mikael Silvestre, the former Manchester United defender who sits on Fifa’s Players’ Voice Panel, published a statement on Monday calling for reform, writing “Enough is enough!” above it on X. The identical message was amplified by England’s double European champion Lucy Bronze and France’s 1998 World Cup-winning midfielder Emmanuel Petit, among others.

Silvestre’s involvement carries particular weight because the Players’ Voice Panel is a 16-member committee established by Fifa itself to monitor and advise on anti-racism initiatives — meaning the criticism is effectively coming from within the governing body’s own structure.

The joint statement declared that players “share the exact same concerns as the millions of fans around the world”, adding: “Like them, we have watched the game we love drift away from its core values under Fifa’s current leadership. For too long we’ve seen major decisions taken without players being consulted or considered, and without any regard for the fans who sustain the sport.”

It continued: “Change is necessary. Power has blurred the current leadership’s ability to distinguish between its own interests and what is best for football. Recent events have made silence impossible.”

The player statement follows calls for Infantino’s resignation from Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin, who has been openly critical of a controversial proposal to sell stakes in a private company created to run the World Cup to outside investors. Ceferin has ruled himself out of standing against Infantino but told a podcast that the Fifa president faces a stark choice ahead of elections in March: acknowledge he has lost the support of the football community, or face an opposition candidate at the ballot.

“I don’t know yet who,” Ceferin said of a potential challenger, though some commentators have pointed to Victor Montagliani — current president of Concacaf and a Fifa vice-president — as a credible alternative.

The pressure on Infantino is now arriving from multiple directions simultaneously: from a rival continental confederation, from players operating inside his own advisory framework, and from prominent former internationals with significant public platforms.