Why Canada’s Victor Montagliani is touted as a front-runner to replace Gianni Infantino

Until last week, Victor Montagliani may have been one of the most loyal allies Gianni Infantino has ever had.

For more than a decade, as the president of FIFA’s CONCACAF confederation and a vice-president of the FIFA Council, the Vancouver-based Montagliani has been steadfast in his support, even when he didn’t agree with every move FIFA’s president made. At this year’s annual FIFA Congress, held in April in Vancouver, Montagliani paid special tribute to Infantino, praising him in their shared mother tongue of Italian.

But last Saturday, after Montagliani chaired an urgent meeting of the presidents of the 41 national federations that make up CONCACAF, the organization issued a statement blasting Infantino and his plan to sell off a 20-per-cent stake in the World Cup. In uncharacteristically damning language, the confederation said the “egregious act of poor governance and leadership follows a pattern of missteps and similar behaviour. A comprehensive reckoning with this presidency is imperative.”

Now Montagliani, whom Prime Minister Mark Carney praised Wednesday as “a credit to Canada, credit to football,” is being touted as a front-runner in the race to challenge Infantino in FIFA’s presidential election next March.

And though he has never publicly stated his desire for that top job, former board members of Canada Soccer, where he served as president from 2012 to 2016, told The Globe and Mail earlier this year that they recall him musing that FIFA should have a Canadian president some day.

Could an Italian-Canadian kid from East Vancouver be the next president of FIFA?

The speculation took on new urgency on Thursday as FIFA’s crisis management efforts appeared to be failing.

On Wednesday, Infantino convened a meeting with FIFA senior staff in Morocco at which, according to a statement issued afterward by the organization, “the FIFA secretary general and members of the FIFA Management Board in attendance reaffirmed their full support for FIFA president Gianni Infantino, as the only official elected by the 211 FIFA Member Associations.”

The statement also took aim at critics, saying FIFA would “not tolerate any attacks on its integrity and will take all necessary measures to defend its reputation.”

But on Thursday, the European football confederation UEFA reiterated that it had lost confidence in Infantino’s leadership and that its boycott of FIFA competitions would continue until its conditions are met, which include assurances that “such attempts to disfigure the game in this way will never be made again.”

The next scheduled FIFA event is the U-20 Women’s World Cup in Poland, which is set to kick off Sept. 5.

Montagliani has not weighed in publicly on whether he might throw his hat into the ring. A spokesperson said this week he was unavailable for an interview.

In June, during an interview with The Globe and Mail, Montagliani said he was honoured by the idea that some might see him as a successor to Infantino. But at the time, he said his focus was on running for re-election of a final term as CONCACAF president – which he has won three times, including the last two by acclamation – and serving the confederation.

“I’ll let the future take care of itself,” he said.

Yet, with FIFA in disarray, Montagliani is well positioned to take a run at the top job. It was a crisis that first landed him on the global soccer stage. In 2015, when almost a dozen executives linked to CONCACAF were indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice, Montagliani – then the president of Canada Soccer – was parachuted in as a caretaker to set it back on course. That gave him the platform to run for the presidency the following year.

Infantino held off an internal revolt. Next up is a hotly contested election

He is widely admired for cleaning up CONCACAF after years of corruption allegations and financial problems, and has instituted governance reforms that members of the confederation say have restored its reputation. He managed to unite a fractious confederation that was previously known for splintering along its natural geographic blocs of North and Central America and the Caribbean.

He speaks four languages, is close with the heads of the other five FIFA confederations and, after overseeing a successful World Cup in his home region that often featured shots of him in the VIP box with Infantino and heads of government such as Prime Minister Carney, is better known among the general public than ever.

And even as he praised Infantino at the FIFA Congress in April, Montagliani delivered a campaign-style speech that talked up his own bona fides and struck some of those who were present as a sly critique of the FIFA president’s growing reputation for self-serving behaviour.

Invoking his track record at CONCACAF, Montagliani said that rebuilding the organization “required transparency, accountability and people who believe football mattered more than preserving the status quo. Because, let me be frank, leadership is not about power. Leadership is about service. It’s about making decisions for the many, not the few. And when leaders choose service, they can transform not just organizations, but the sport itself.”

Nominations for the next FIFA presidency are due Nov. 18.