La Liga Chief Tebas Calls for Infantino to Resign: 'His Time Is Up'

Javier Tebas, the president of La Liga, has publicly demanded that Gianni Infantino step down as head of FIFA, accusing the world football governing body of wrecking the sport from within. In a pointed interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport, Tebas did not hold back, stating bluntly that Infantino should go. “In my opinion, yes, I think his time is up,” Tebas said. However, he acknowledged that Infantino retains the backing of national federations and described FIFA’s election system as “rotten at its core.” “There’s no opposition candidate, nobody wants to stand just to lose,” Tebas added. “He shouldn’t stay, but the current state of affairs means he won’t leave.” The Spanish league chief was in the United States to witness his country lift the 2026 World Cup trophy, and he used the opportunity to air a series of grievances with FIFA’s management of the tournament. Among his criticisms were the mandatory three-minute hydration breaks, the extended 27-minute-and-22-second halftime in the final, the controversial decision to postpone a suspension for United States striker Folarin Balogun, and the prospect of a 64-team World Cup in the future. Tebas pointed to the Balogun case as a potential turning point. The U.S. international avoided a ban for his team's round-of-16 match against Belgium after an intervention by U.S. President Donald Trump. “The suspension of the American player’s ban was absolutely serious,” Tebas said. “They were lucky that Belgium eliminated the USA, because otherwise a case could have arisen that might have cost Infantino his job. Since Belgium won, they managed to bury the matter. But these things are just the tip of the iceberg.” European football’s governing body, UEFA, had publicly criticized FIFA’s handling of the situation, calling it “unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable,” and UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin skipped the World Cup final as a result. Infantino recently floated the idea of expanding the World Cup to 64 teams, but Tebas argued that such a move would be misguided. “Not everything can revolve around the World Cup,” he said. “Increasing the number of national teams makes no sense. The football industry isn’t just the World Cup. It’s the national competitions that sustain this sport. They are destroying the football industry, which generates tens of thousands of jobs, for an event that lasts 40 days and involves a minority of players.” Tebas also dismissed FIFA’s rationale for hydration breaks, noting that La Liga only uses them when temperatures truly require it. “Here, the pitches in Dallas, Los Angeles, Atlanta had air conditioning; I had to put on a jumper in the stands. It was a lie, a break for advertising,” he said. “It’s proof that we are governed by an institution that does and decides what it wants, when it wants, following only its own interests without considering the rest of football. And in many cases, it acts to the detriment of football.” FIFA has been contacted for comment but has not yet responded.