India, Aug. 4 -- Gianni Infantino appeared to have secured another comfortable march towards the FIFA presidency. More than 200 national associations had reportedly pledged their support, no opponent had formally entered the contest and his re-election for the 2027-31 term looked little more than a procedural exercise.

That assumption has been shattered.

Infantino is facing the most serious rebellion of his decade-long presidency following the collapse of FIFA's proposal to create a commercial subsidiary valued at approximately $20 billion. The plan involved selling roughly a 20% stake to private investors and potentially raising as much as $4.2 billion against revenues connected to FIFA's competitions, including the World Cup.

The fin...