Mexico's football association has broken ranks with its confederation and delivered a significant setback to a Uefa-led effort to remove embattled FIFA President Gianni Infantino, dealing a blow to hopes of forcing him from office.

Infantino has been fending off a rebellion from the confederations representing Europe (UEFA), Asia (AFC), and the Caribbean, Central and North America (Concacaf), all of which have strongly condemned his undisclosed efforts to effectively privatise the World Cup. The controversy strikes at the core of FIFA's revenue model, which depends overwhelmingly on World Cup broadcasting and sponsorship rights — the 2018–2022 commercial cycle generated roughly $7.5 billion — and any shift toward private ownership of those rights would reshape how football's most lucrative asset is governed.

African and South American nations have remained firmly in Infantino's corner. Now, Mexico — a co-host of the expanded 48-team 2026 World Cup alongside the United States and Canada — has joined them, despite Concacaf's backing of his removal. Mexico's position is notable not only for its break with Concacaf but because the FMF holds direct stakes in the operational success of the upcoming tournament, giving its alignment with Infantino added weight.

Under FIFA's one-country, one-vote system, each of the 211 member associations casts a single ballot in presidential elections regardless of size or influence, meaning individual defections can materially shift the arithmetic.

Mexico's defection complicates the path for UEFA, Concacaf, and the AFC to gather sufficient support to force a vote of no confidence in the FIFA president or to field a challenger against him in next year's presidential election.

In a statement, the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) said it "is convinced that football is the fundamental value and that its best defence lies in institutionality and respect for governance and the processes that safeguard it" (X post).

"Therefore, the FMF will neither recognise nor approve any process convened outside of this institutionality, and embraces the call made on August 5, 2026, by President Infantino to collectively continue developing football for the benefit of all 211 member associations," the statement continued. "The FMF supports the leadership of President Infantino to continue driving the development of football through institutional strengthening."

How Many Votes Are Needed to Overthrow Infantino?

Infantino has resisted mounting calls to resign over his proposal to sell stakes in a spin-off company that would manage commercial rights to the World Cup and other FIFA tournaments. Potential private investors reportedly include members of the extended family of his political ally, Donald Trump. The privatisation proposal echoes longstanding tensions within FIFA over transparency and governance that have persisted since the 2015 corruption scandal that engulfed the organisation and led to the downfall of Infantino's predecessor, Sepp Blatter.

He convened a crisis meeting in Morocco on Wednesday, after which FIFA released a statement acknowledging that it had apologised for keeping the plans secret from the FIFA Council and all member nations, and indicating that Infantino intended to remain in his post.

Since that meeting, the African confederation CAF has "unanimously reconfirmed its support for FIFA President Gianni Infantino and thanked him for his support for African Football, over the years" (CAF statement). South America and Oceania are also believed to back him.

If UEFA, the AFC, and Concacaf were to vote as unified blocs, they would command 136 of FIFA's 211 votes — enough to deny Infantino a third full term. However, Mexico's stance, along with that of several Asian nations including Qatar and Kuwait, has strengthened Infantino's position in his bid to retain power.