Gianni Infantino challenged by football legends

Gianni Infantino is facing a public challenge from a group of former football stars calling for major changes to the way FIFA is governed. Emmanuel Petit and Mikaël Silvestre shared a joint statement on Monday, giving a broader platform to criticism of the organisation’s leadership.

The signatories include France’s Bixente Lizarazu and Robert Pirès, Ivory Coast great Didier Drogba, Togo star Emmanuel Adebayor, Argentina’s Juan Sebastián Verón, Peru’s Claudio Pizarro, as well as Lucy Bronze and Briana Scurry. Their collective action marks a move by prominent former players to speak openly about FIFA’s direction.

The group wants players and supporters to have a stronger role in decisions that shape football’s future. It argues that the exercise of power under Infantino has moved some administrators away from the wider interests of the sport. Infantino has led FIFA since 2016.

The intervention comes amid an already tense atmosphere around the FIFA president, including criticism of several disputed projects linked to the organisation’s economic and commercial future. The former players are seeking governance that is more open, transparent and representative of football’s wider community, turning individual criticism into a coordinated demand for reform.