Norway’s football association has called on Fifa President Gianni Infantino to resign immediately, saying it no longer has confidence in his leadership, according to a report by The Guardian.
The demand came late Thursday after the Norwegian Football Federation board held an emergency meeting. For NFF President Lise Klaveness, the relationship with Infantino has reached a breaking point.
“There is no trust left in Infantino,” she said. “For us, there is no turning back.”
With this move, Norway becomes the first national body to publicly ask the Fifa president to step down. The decision follows weeks of backlash over the Fifa Forward Enterprise plan a proposal to sell parts of the World Cup to private investors. Fifa shelved the plan after facing strong opposition from member associations.
Klaveness described the current state of football governance as divided and unstable. She said Norway will follow up with a formal letter to Infantino next week asking him to quit.
But the concerns go deeper. The NFF is also pushing for a full review of the reforms introduced when Infantino took office in 2016. In addition, it plans to lodge a fresh complaint with Fifa’s ethics committee covering three separate issues: the FFE proposal, Fifa’s decision to award its peace prize to Donald Trump, and the handling of USA forward Folarin Balogun’s red card during the World Cup. Norway hopes other major European federations will back the complaint.
According to Klaveness, Fifa’s oversight system is too weak to hold the president and council accountable. She recalled that Norway did not vote for Infantino in 2023, hoping instead that he would deliver on promised reforms. That expectation, she said, was not met.
The fallout could affect the game on the field too. Uefa and its members have warned they may boycott Fifa tournaments if the crisis drags on. The first event at risk is the Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Poland, set to begin on September 5. Klaveness said she hopes a solution is found before then, but stressed that unity with Uefa is now critical.
Infantino has faced scrutiny for years over transparency and human rights in football. Since taking charge of the NFF in 2022, Klaveness has also been vocal on issues around Qatar 2022 and the awarding of the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia.
