Ramon Vega Played for Tottenham and Celtic, and Now He Wants Gianni Infantino’s Job as Fifa President

• Former Tottenham and Celtic defender Ramon Vega, 55, says he intends to stand in next year’s Fifa presidential election, becoming the first person to confirm a challenge to Gianni Infantino.
• Infantino has refused to step down after Uefa, Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation called for his resignation over a failed plan to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors.
• Vega tried to run against Fifa’s leadership twice before, in 2015 and 2019, but fell short both times of the backing needed from five of Fifa’s 211 member federations just to appear on the ballot.

The Ex-Spurs Defender Who Wants Gianni Infantino’s Job

Ramon Vega spent his playing career marking strikers for Tottenham, Celtic and Switzerland. Now the 55-year-old, who has worked in finance in the years after retiring in 2004, says he wants to take on Gianni Infantino for control of world football’s governing body.

Vega is the first person to publicly confirm he intends to stand in next year’s Fifa presidential election, setting up a direct challenge to Infantino, who has so far refused to step down even as pressure mounts from inside the game.

A President Under Pressure From His Own Confederations

That pressure has built around a plan, now abandoned, that would have seen Fifa sell off stakes in the World Cup to private investors. The idea sparked a backlash across the sport, and Uefa, Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation all called on Infantino to resign over it. Last month Infantino said he was “fully committed to leading Fifa” regardless.

It is against that backdrop that Vega has chosen to move. “I am standing to reunite the global football family, deliver genuine and lasting reform, modernise Fifa for the 21st Century, restore stability and credibility, and rebuild the trust that our game urgently needs,” he said in a statement announcing his candidacy.

Two Failed Attempts Before This One

This is not Vega’s first run at Fifa’s top job. He considered standing in 2015 after the suspension of former president Sepp Blatter, then said in 2019 he would run against Infantino directly. Both times, he failed to secure the backing of five of Fifa’s 211 member federations needed just to get his name onto a ballot.

Vega’s pitch this time leans on his own biography as much as policy. “I am standing because my life has prepared me to serve the game,” he said. “Football does not belong to presidents, confederations or administrators. Football is greater than any position, any individual or any institution. It is the people’s game and belongs to everyone: the players, coaches, referees, supporters, volunteers, clubs, leagues, associations and communities that give football its life. It belongs to every child discovering the game, every professional carrying the hopes of a nation, and the billions of supporters whose passion makes football the world’s game.”

“Football Is in the Emergency Room”

Vega did not hold back on his assessment of the man he wants to replace. “Football must always come first. Yet for too long, division has fractured our football family,” he said. “The current leadership has demoralised the game. Weak governance has damaged Fifa’s credibility and eroded trust across the global football family. We must stop this conflict from escalating.

“Ego-driven battles within football administration must never be allowed to damage those who matter most: the players, coaches, referees and supporters around the world. They are not responsible for these conflicts. They deserve better.”

He closed with the starkest line of his statement. “Football is in the emergency room, on life support. We cannot wait any longer. Fifa needs a new direction and fundamental reform,” Vega said. “We must reunite the football family, restore trust, bring stability and modernise Fifa’s governance. This requires decisive change – not cosmetic adjustments.”

Even His Own Federation Has Turned

The pressure on Infantino has not stayed confined to continental confederations. The Swiss Football Association, the body that governs the country where both Fifa and Uefa are based, became the latest national federation to withdraw its support for Infantino. “The decision follows a comprehensive reassessment of developments over the past few months,” a Swiss FA statement said. “From the SFV’s perspective, various incidents raise fundamental questions regarding leadership, governance, transparency and decision-making processes within Fifa.”

Uefa went further still, accusing Infantino of “criminal mismanagement” over the Fifa Forward Enterprise scheme, the same World Cup-funding plan that triggered the broader revolt against him. Separately, Rui Pinto, the Portuguese computer hacker behind the Football Leaks website, used a post on X to repeat 2018 allegations that Infantino had intervened as Uefa’s general secretary to help Manchester City and Paris St-Germain avoid tougher Financial Fair Play sanctions in 2014, a claim Infantino has previously dismissed, saying his old job “entails having discussions, having conversations, exchanging documents, drafts, ideas… on many, many, many, many topics.” Pinto wrote that Infantino “has become a cancer on football and should have no place in the future of the game.”

Infantino is set to stand for a fourth term regardless, with the vote due in March 2027. His opponents have until 18 November to settle on a single alternative candidate, a deadline that puts a clock on whatever momentum Vega’s announcement generates.

What Comes Next

Vega now has to do what he could not manage in 2015 or 2019: find five Fifa member federations willing to back his candidacy before any vote takes place. With three continental confederations already on record wanting Infantino gone, the question is whether that pressure translates into the votes Vega needs just to appear on the ballot, let alone to win it.

For now, Vega stands as the one name publicly willing to put himself forward against an incumbent facing open calls to resign from his own confederations, in an election that is still more than a year away.