German football federation president calls for “the end of the Infantino system”

The president of the German Football Federation, Bernd Neuendorf, has distanced himself from FIFA chief Gianni Infantino more clearly than ever before and wants to bring down his “system,” he told German media.

“It is important that this system of Infantino’s also comes to an end,” Neuendorf told RTL/ntv, stressing that this is even “absolutely necessary.”

Neuendorf attended the meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee and the FIFA Council in Thessaloniki, Greece, and continued to emphasize Germany’s skepticism toward a new Infantino presidential term.

“The relationship of trust with Gianni Infantino, with this FIFA leadership, is certainly destroyed.”

The FIFA president is seeking another term, despite the spectacular failure of his World Cup investor plan and fierce criticism from parts of the football world, with elections scheduled for March.

Among others, UEFA, led by president Aleksander Čeferin, is seeking Infantino’s resignation and preparing to file a criminal complaint against him in Switzerland. The European side’s main goal is to force Infantino to withdraw before his planned re-election.

Ten European football federations have already officially withdrawn their support for him; most recently, France and Austria did so. The German Football Federation (DFB) has not yet done such a thing, but Neuendorf has already made his position very clear and confirmed in July that the federation would not sign the letter of support offered by FIFA.

UEFA is very likely to present a rival candidate before the Nov. 18 deadline.