---
title: "Six Nordic football associations say they have lost confidence in Infantino"
description: "Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and the Faroe Islands want an independent investigation into the abandoned plan to sell stakes in FIFA competitions, and a binding guarantee that it never happens again. FIFA did not respond to a request for comment."
category: "Sports"
category_url: https://newsparlor.com/category/sports
author: "Elena Castro"
published: 2026-08-23T16:39:29.000Z
updated: 2026-08-23T16:39:29.000Z
canonical: https://newsparlor.com/article/six-nordic-football-associations-say-they-have-lost-confidence-in-infantino
tags: ["fifa", "gianni-infantino", "governance", "nordic", "football"]
---
# Six Nordic football associations say they have lost confidence in Infantino

Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and the Faroe Islands want an independent investigation into the abandoned plan to sell stakes in FIFA competitions, and a binding guarantee that it never happens again. FIFA did not respond to a request for comment.

The football associations of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and the Faroe Islands have issued a joint statement saying they no longer have confidence in FIFA's president.

"The six Nordic football associations have lost confidence in FIFA's president and are concerned about the organisation's governance and decision-making at the highest level," it reads, [according to Al Jazeera](https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2026/8/23/nordic-nations-have-lost-confidence-in-infantino-demand-fifa-reforms).

## What they are asking for

Three things.

An independent investigation into the proposal to sell stakes in FIFA competitions to private equity investors, which was abandoned after opposition from UEFA, the AFC and CONCACAF. A comprehensive independent review of FIFA's governance framework. And measures to ensure independence, checks and balances, transparency and accountability.

On the first of those they were specific: "We expect FIFA to provide binding guarantees that the organisation's competitions will never again be opened up to private ownership."

## Lost confidence, resignation, and the distance between them

The statement does not itself call on Gianni Infantino to resign. It says the associations back calls from other confederations that he do so.

That is a meaningful distinction and worth spelling out. A national association saying it has lost confidence is a statement of position with no procedural consequence. Endorsing someone else's call for resignation is one step further. Neither is a mechanism, and there is no confidence vote in FIFA's rules that these six could trigger.

The mechanism is the election, in March, at which Infantino is seeking a fourth term running to 2031, and where each member association has a vote. Six is not many out of more than two hundred. But six national associations putting their names to a public statement of no confidence is unusual behaviour in an organisation where members generally do not do that, and it follows similar positions from three confederations.

## What Infantino has said

FIFA did not respond to Al Jazeera's request for comment.

Infantino himself is quoted in the report on the value of disagreement: "So even more so a reason to be proud to be here and happy as well because it's important to engage, to have a dialogue, to express views and opinions."

That is a considerably more relaxed response than the criticism invites, which may be a reading of the arithmetic. The associations objecting so far are wealthy, prominent and loud. They are also, in a one-member-one-vote body, a small number of votes.

## The thread this is part of

On Friday, Victor Montagliani, the CONCACAF president and a FIFA vice-president, wrote to Infantino asking him not to attend a Caribbean under-14 tournament because the coverage would be about the governance crisis rather than the football. Dominican officials publicly welcomed the visit anyway.

The Nordic statement is the same pressure from a different direction, and the same question sits under both: whether an institution can be changed by members who are outnumbered.

We verified this account from a single publication.

## Sources

- [Nordic nations 'have lost confidence in Infantino', demand FIFA reforms](https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2026/8/23/nordic-nations-have-lost-confidence-in-infantino-demand-fifa-reforms)