
Victor Montagliani eyes re-election at Concacaf that would rule out Fifa presidency run
Confederation president clarifies his intentions to staff
Canadian was eyed as potential rival to Gianni Infantino
Victor Montagliani has told Concacaf staff he intends to stand for re-election as the confederationâÂÂs presidentnext year, which will rule him out of going up against Gianni Infantino for the top job at Fifa.
The Canadian businessman is understood to have relayed the message to most of the 41 members of Concacaf, the North and Central American and Caribbean confederation.
Montagliani has been widely touted as a potential candidate to take on Infantino for the Fifa presidency, particularly among Uefa member associations, who are conscious a European candidate would have no chance of beating Infantino in a ballot of FifaâÂÂs 211 members.
At a town hall meeting of Concacaf staff late last month, however, Montagliani is understood to have said that despite the Fifa governance crisis and calls for him to stand, he wants to continue serving members in the region.
ConcacafâÂÂs presidential election will take place in the first quarter of next year before the Fifa vote on 18 March in Rabat, with the similar timelines leading Montagliani to clarify his intentions to staff.
The 61-year-old was elected president on a reforming mandate 10 years ago after the corruption scandal that culminated in the arrest of then Concacaf president, Jeffrey Webb, after an FBI investigation. Webb admitted he had taken âÂÂbribes and kickbacksâÂÂ.
Uefa will also hold presidential elections next year, with Aleksander Ceferin, the incumbent, confirming his intention to stand at a meeting of UefaâÂÂs 55 member associations in Berlin on Thursday.
Montagliani and Ceferin are expected to continue working together to bring about governance reform at Fifa after the World Cup sell-off scandal, which will be on the agenda at next ThursdayâÂÂs Fifa council meeting in Zurich.
FifaâÂÂs council has not met since InfantinoâÂÂs Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) plan was exposed in July despite repeated calls from members for an extraordinary general meeting, with the summit their first meeting since Fifa congress in Vancouver last March.
Montagliani, Ceferin and the Asian Football Confederation president, Salman bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa, are expected to use the council meeting to demand an independent review of FFE and call for broader governance reforms of Fifa, which would give a greater voice to stakeholders and formalise the councilâÂÂs role in decision-making.
Previous calls from the trio, expressed in letters sent to Infantino last month, for Fifa to allocate a portion of its $6bn (ã4.5bn) cash reserves to members will also be discussed.
