Gianni Infantino looks set to be returned unopposed as Fifa president next year, despite a crisis of his own making. Senior figures in European football have a different idea, and they have given the name to BBC Sport: Arsene Wenger.
It would be an awkward candidacy, to put it gently. Wenger has been Fifa's chief of global football development since 2019, which makes Infantino his boss. On Wednesday evening the two of them had dinner together in a Zurich restaurant with other members of the Fifa Council. On Thursday they sit in the same meeting.
Why the council meeting matters
That gathering is the first since Infantino's Fifa Forward Enterprise scheme, a plan to sell commercial stakes in the World Cup to private investors, became public and triggered calls from leaders in Europe, North America and Asia for him to resign. The plan was pulled. The anger was not.
Fifa is expected to propose a $3.4bn (£2.6bn) increase in development funding at the same meeting, which is the kind of announcement designed to change the subject. Infantino will still face questions on governance reform, on the Fifa Peace Prize handed to Donald Trump last year, and on the disciplinary procedures exposed by the Folarin Balogun case.
Nobody else wants to stand
The reason Infantino is cruising is that the opposition cannot find a candidate. Victor Montagliani, the Concacaf president, has made clear he is not running. So has Uefa's Aleksander Ceferin. The only declared candidate is Ramon Vega, the former Tottenham defender, and nobody in Zurich rates his chances.
Infantino, meanwhile, has been travelling. All 54 African member associations backed him recently after he promised more funding. His base in Africa, South America and Oceania is enough even though his overall support runs at roughly half of Fifa's 211 members.
The case for Wenger, and the case against
His supporters argue he carries weight outside Europe, which is where any Uefa-led challenge would live or die. "He's a brilliant football man who truly understands football development because he's been running it," one senior official at a European national association told BBC Sport. "People don't see him as just a European. He's very respected in Asia, for instance, from his time working in Japan. With him, it's not about money, status or ego. He genuinely loves the game." The same official added that Wenger is "in a really difficult position".
He is. When the FFE row broke, Wenger put out a statement distancing himself from it: "I was not involved in this strategic plan and first became aware of the project through media reports. The decision to withdraw the project was absolutely necessary and beyond question, because I firmly believe in an independent Fifa that serves our game with commitment, transparency and integrity." Some expected him to resign over it. He stayed, and still runs youth academies in 60 countries and advises the rule-making body Ifab.
Others are unconvinced. "I'd be amazed if Wenger would rise up against the man who appointed him in the first place," one well-connected figure in Fifa circles said. "Arsene has had some fairly 'out there' ideas." A second European official put it differently: "He has the stature, but I'm not sure he smacks of the future. Maybe he could do a single term to introduce reforms."
A deadline, and a silence
Wenger is 76. He left Arsenal in 2018 after 22 years as the most successful manager in the club's history, and his Fifa years have produced their share of arguments, from biennial World Cups to a redrawn offside law. At the weekend he was in Cape Verde telling a Confederation of African Football conference: "We want to see an African team win the World Cup, and the numbers show that it is feasible." That is not a bad line to have on the record if you are thinking about standing.
BBC Sport asked about his intentions through Fifa and got no comment. People close to him would not be drawn either. If he wants to run he has until 18 November to declare and needs five national associations to nominate him.
Election context: Candidates for the Fifa presidency must declare by 18 November and be nominated by at least five of the 211 member associations. Gianni Infantino is seeking a fourth and final term. Reporting: Dan Roan, BBC Sport editor, in Zurich.
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