Welsh FA chief Noel Mooney disputes Infantino's FIFA reform claims

Football Association of Wales chief executive Noel Mooney has played down suggestions that FIFA is preparing major reforms, insisting the letter sent by Gianni Infantino to all 211 member associations does not propose structural changes at the governing body. His remarks arrive amid mounting scrutiny of Infantino's leadership and less than two years before the election in which the Swiss official will seek a fourth term.

• Mooney argues the letter addresses strategic projects and initiatives, not reform of FIFA as an institution.
• Infantino has proposed an external review to recommend potential improvements in how the governing body operates.
• The FAW was among the first national associations to withdraw support for Infantino's re-election bid.
• The FIFA presidential election is scheduled for March 2027.
• The abandoned FIFA Forward Enterprise plan triggered a significant backlash from national federations.

What Infantino's letter actually says

The dispute centres on a letter signed by the FIFA president and sent to members of the FIFA Council and every national association. In the document, Infantino floats the idea of an external review process that would, in his own description, recommend potential improvements to how world football's governing body operates.

Mooney, however, reads the message very differently from how much of the international press has reported it. The Welsh chief executive says the letter does not call for reforming FIFA itself, but instead confines the review to strategic projects and initiatives. His interpretation is that the process would examine how federations were consulted and how decisions around those specific plans were made.

I've seen the headlines today about major reform at FIFA; that's not how the letter read to me, to be frank. It talks about reform around strategic projects and initiatives, not about reforming FIFA itself.

The FIFA Forward Enterprise backlash

Infantino has come under increasing pressure in recent months over his aborted FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal. The plan would have allowed the sale of stakes in the World Cup and other competitions to private investors, and it sparked a wave of opposition from national associations who felt the commercial core of international football was being put up for sale.

Wales reacted swiftly. The FAW was one of the first national governing bodies to withdraw its endorsement of Infantino's candidacy, a stance Mooney has now reiterated in an interview with BBC Radio Wales. The executive believes the FIFA president should act as a moral guardian for the sport rather than as a manager prepared to sell off parts of the game.

Why Wales will not back Infantino in 2027

The next FIFA presidential election is set for March 2027, and Infantino has already signalled his intention to stand for a fourth consecutive term. Any rival candidate has until 18 November to formalise an alternative bid, though no challenger has yet emerged with enough support to unite the opposition.

Mooney has made clear that Wales will not endorse the incumbent. In his view, FIFA already holds billions in reserves and has no need to bring private equity into the World Cup. The Welsh executive's demand is blunt: release the money, let federations build pitches and improve grassroots infrastructure, and do it as quickly as possible.

The financial case from smaller federations

The Welsh official has put figures behind his argument. Speaking at a summit in Miami held before the 2026 World Cup, where all 211 affiliated federations gathered, Mooney pointed out that revenue for the Qatar tournament was around eight billion dollars. The projected revenue for the 2026 edition in Canada, the United States and Mexico stands at 16 billion.

With revenue doubling from one World Cup cycle to the next, Mooney argues that the growth should flow directly to federations in the form of increased funding for grassroots football. His message is that FIFA does not need to sell assets or attract outside investors when its reserves are more than sufficient to finance development without compromising flagship competitions.

What is at stake for Infantino in the 2027 election

Gianni Infantino took over as FIFA president in 2016, succeeding Sepp Blatter amid the most damaging corruption scandal ever to hit the governing body. Since then, the Swiss official has overseen the expansion of the World Cup, driven commercial revenue to record levels and consolidated his grip on the federation's power structures.

His fourth election campaign, however, comes with a more uncomfortable backdrop. The backlash over FIFA Forward Enterprise has dented his standing among federations that previously aligned without question, and figures like Mooney show that opposition, while still lacking a standard-bearer, is beginning to find its voice. The March 2027 vote will measure how deeply the discontent has spread.