Request: Radical FIFA reform and a summit without Gianni Infantino

The Dutch Football Association (KNVB) has called for an international summit in Amsterdam to reform FIFA and announced that it no longer has confidence in the leadership of President Gianni Infantino. The Dutch forum believes that FIFA needs new leadership from 2027, but warns that a change of president is not enough and is calling for structural changes to the way world football is managed, Reuters reports.

• KNVB: "New leadership is not enough”

The Dutch federation has said that it has lost confidence in Gianni Infantino and that FIFA's governance must be changed. The position is all the more relevant as the KNVB supported Infantino in previous presidential elections, but its support is conditional on progress in areas such as good governance, human rights, sustainability and international cooperation. "We believe that FIFA needs a new leadership from 2027. But a new president is not enough. The way FIFA is governed must also change,” the KNVB said. The Dutch federation claims that power has been excessively concentrated around the FIFA president and that there is insufficient separation between the presidency and the organization's administration. In the KNVB's view, the problem is not limited to Infantino himself, but to FIFA's institutional architecture itself.

• Forward Enterprise, a turning point

The Dutch federation believes that the process associated with the FIFA Forward Enterprise project, which was later abandoned by the world body, represented a turning point in its relationship with Infantino. The project provoked negative reactions from several structures in world football after FIFA examined the possibility of attracting private investors in the commercial exploitation of assets and competitions, including the World Cup. FIFA later abandoned the initiative, but the decision was not enough to restore the KNVB's confidence. "The withdrawal of the proposal was necessary, but it does not restore the trust that was lost,” the Dutch federation said. The KNVB's position is part of a broader challenge to FIFA's leadership. UEFA and other national federations have called in recent weeks for governance reforms and an independent review of the abandoned project.

• Amsterdam proposed as venue for FIFA redesign

The KNVB is proposing an "International Summit on the Future of FIFA” in Amsterdam, attended by national federations and confederations from all continents. The aim would not only be to identify a successor to Infantino, but to establish, in advance, the organizational model that world football needs.

The Dutch federation advocates for a "strong and credible” FIFA that belongs to football, serves its members and contributes to the development of this sport globally. The KNVB insists that the reform should not be conceived as a European project imposed on the rest of the world, but together with FIFA's 211 member associations and six continental confederations.

• More checks and balances, less concentration of power

In the Dutch federation's view, the future FIFA should have stronger checks and balances, a clearer separation between political and administrative functions and a higher level of transparency. The KNVB also wants human rights, sustainability and the fight against racism and discrimination to be central to the world body's decisions. Another request concerns how FIFA uses the revenue generated by its competitions. The Dutch federation believes that a larger proportion of the revenue available for distribution should be reinvested in the development of world football. According to Reuters, the KNVB has even put forward the idea of up to 90% of this revenue being directed towards the development of football.

The KNVB's stance increases pressure on Gianni Infantino ahead of the FIFA presidential election in March 2027. The Dutch federation is one of FIFA's founding organizations and emphasizes that this position gives it a special responsibility for the future of world football. The KNVB says it wants to actively participate in the redesign of the organization and not just decide on the name of the next president.