It feels as though the walls are closing in on Fifa president Gianni Infantino.

The Swiss is in a lonely place after scrapping controversial plans to sell off stakes in Fifa competitions to private investment.

As it stands, Infantino will stand for re-election in March as he targets a fourth and final term as president.

He would need 106 votes from Fifa’s 211 members to win.

But national associations – including those from England and Wales – have begun to withdraw letters of support for his re-election.

There is also the possibility the Fifa Council could try to force Infantino to resign through an emergency meeting.

But if this is the beginning of the end of his tenure, who might take over?

Montagliani is the president of Concacaf, which runs football in North and Central America and the Caribbean.

Like Infantino, he was elected in 2016 promising governance reform. A former president of Canada Soccer, Montagliani was heavily involved in the build-up to, and delivery of, the 2026 World Cup – the first to be hosted by three nations. He is fluent in French, Italian and Spanish, as well as English.

Explaining his decision to run for the Concacaf presidency, Montagliani told the BC Business website: “Like anything, when I decide to go, I go. I campaigned on my own dime for three months, went to see all 41 countries, from the US to Bonaire – a little island off Venezuela.”

Montagliani took the lead when Concacaf hosted an expanded Copa America in 2024. In an interview with BBC Sport, he rejected the idea it could become a regular occurrence.

Politically strong, he smoothed relations around former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger’s attempt to gain support for a World Cup every two years, and has never truly bought into the idea of a 64-team tournament.

At the Leaders conference in 2025, he outlined why he felt football was strong enough to ride out any storm.

“The game is bigger than world current leaders,” he said. “Football will survive regimes. Does it cause a headache? Of course. You have to be realistic about that. That is the beauty of our game, it is bigger than any individual and country.”

The AFC president, Al Khalifa was initially elected in 2013 and returned unopposed for a fourth term to run until 2027.

The Bahraini has presided over significant growth within the Asian confederation, through the Champions League Elite, Champions League Two, the Challenge League and the Women’s Champions League, which was launched in 2024-25. The Asian Cup has been expanded to 24 teams.

Al Khalifa signed off the brutal takedown of how Fifa is being run by Infantino and has carried with him a 46-member confederation – many of whom are aware the figures being offered by Infantino’s plan are huge in terms of their overall football expenditure.

Paris St-Germain president Al-Khelaifi took over as chairman of the European Clubs’ Association in the aftermath of the other seismic event that threatened to pull the game apart – the ill-fated European Super League, which collapsed within 48 hours in 2021.

Al-Khelaifi presided over a name change – to European Football Clubs. More importantly, he expanded it to more than 800 members. Of the biggest clubs, only Real Madrid remain outside.

In theory, the Qatari would be a serious challenger to Infantino. But it seems he doesn’t want the role.

“He genuinely, genuinely, genuinely doesn’t want the job,” was the response of a source close to the 52-year-old when asked about the possibility on Thursday.

Appointed Fifa secretary general in May 2024, Grafstrom has become an increasingly influential voice around the Fifa table.

He became Infantino’s chief of staff following his election as president in 2016.

Another very visual presence at the World Cup, he could be seen as being too close to Infantino – and the general feeling Fifa’s next president needs to be a non-European might also count against him.

Fifa’s next president will be confirmed at the organisation’s 77th Congress in Morocco next March. Candidates have until 18 November to put their names forward.