A decision due within hours
Arsène Wenger is close to a final answer. According to RMC Sport, the former Arsenal manager is expected to settle, within hours, whether he will stand against Gianni Infantino for the FIFA presidency. The vote takes place on 18 March in Rabat, Morocco, and candidates have until 18 November to file their paperwork.
Wenger is 77 and currently works as FIFA’s chief of global football development. He has spent months sounding people out across the game, and the French federation is said to view a bid favourably. Several UEFA officials have been pushing for it since mid-October, when RMC first reported his name in those circles.
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Why the timing could suit him
RMC reports that Wenger’s FIFA contract runs out at the end of 2026, with a renewal possible. That would leave him free to campaign in the coming weeks. He stayed low-key during the failed plan for a commercial World Cup company, issuing a statement but not walking away like other officials. Since then he has carried on as normal, sitting beside Infantino at the U15 World Cup in Azerbaijan.
The arithmetic is tough. Infantino is counting on between 80 and 90 of the 211 federations that will vote, according to RMC’s latest tallies. Wenger is popular in Africa and among many FIFA employees, though staff have no say in the election. If he declines, UEFA could turn to Sandor Csanyi, the Hungarian federation president who sits on the FIFA council.
What supporters and critics say
One senior European federation figure told RMC that Wenger is respected and has no ambitions tied to money or power. Another said he could clean house over four years. His age may even help, since some backers see a run now as groundwork for 2031. Infantino’s allies, for their part, are already pointing to reforms Wenger once pushed for the sport’s future.
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