Gianni Infantino to change FIFA election rules as 'dangerous' plan on the cards

Gianni Infantino is likely to try to change FIFA rules to give himself the chance to serve as the organisation's president for a fourth term.

That is according to former Everton chief executive Keith Wyness, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, who believes that the 56-year-old could be about to alter the precedent and retain his power for longer.

The Swiss-born businessman is up for re-election again in March 2027, and is expected to win by a landslide vote, which would take his reign into an 11th year.

However, Wyness believes that he is lining up a "dangerous" plan to extend his stint beyond the current 12-year limit by changing the rule as we know it.

Infantino first took over as FIFA president back in 2016, but was allowed to discount his first three years in charge as he took over from Sepp Blatter outside the usual election cycle, as per ESPN.

With Infantino effectively starting his tenure in 2019 officially, his 12 years will be up by the time 2031's election comes around, but Wyness believes he is ready to handle that.

Keith Wyness: UEFA breakaway could change everything

Everton’s former chief Wyness – who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – believes that UEFA could throw Infantino's power up into the air if they decided to break away from FIFA.

The European governing body have made their frustration known over several incidents regarding this summer's World Cup, but Wyness has stressed that they are highly unlikely to act on their discontent.

Speaking on the latest edition of Football Insider's Inside Track podcast, he explained that there is likely to be little to prevent Infantino from altering the maximum tenure of FIFA governance.

"The dangerous part will be when he (Infantino) changes the rules to try and get a fourth term. And so we'll see how that plays out as well," Wyness said.

"Unless UEFA break away, which they've been threatening to do for a long time, but I still don't see that happening either. 

"Deals will be done behind the scenes in terms of revenue splits from this great new honeypot that FIFA's got, and UEFA will probably get some of that as well, and then the whole thing will disappear, and we'll go back to normal. 

"That's what I expect."

UEFA resistance to 'die down'

Wyness previously told Football Insider earlier this week tha UEFA's growing plan to run a contender against Infantino at the next election is likely to "die down."

He made it clear that even with UEFA having one vote per country, Infantino has enough backing from the other confederations to ride out any attempt to overthrow him.

Wyness labelled the current situation as a "storm in a teacup," and made it clear that he expects nothing to change in the relationship between UEFA and FIFA.

He suggested that UEFA's plan is unlikely to come to anything more than a "note of displeasure" at the way the 2026 World Cup has been handled.