Norway has become the first football federation to directly demand the resignation of FIFA president Gianni Infantino, in a dramatic escalation of the governance crisis at the top of the world game.

The Norwegian Football Federation (NFF) took the decision at a meeting on Thursday night, 6 August, and expects to formally write to Infantino requesting his immediate departure in the coming week, The Guardian reported on 7 August.

At the heart of the dispute is Infantino's attempt to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors — a plan that would have handed a share of football's showpiece tournament to outside commercial interests. The NFF's president, Lise Klaveness, warned on 31 July that the proposal had created a "very serious situation" for the sport, Reuters reported.

A day later, FIFA scrapped the sell-off plan entirely, a move Reuters described as a crushing blow to Infantino. But for Norway, the damage was already done.

Norway has form here. The NFF did not vote for Infantino in either the 2023 or the 2026 FIFA presidential elections, citing the lack of progress on the reforms he was elected on — transparency and human rights among them. Wales had already become the first association to officially withdraw support for Infantino's re-election in March. Norway was among a handful of countries that followed.

The NFF now plans to formalise a fresh complaint to FIFA's ethics committee on three fronts: the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) scandal — a matter relating to how FIFA distributes development funds to its member associations; FIFA's decision to award a "peace prize" to Donald Trump, a prize initiated by Infantino in November 2025 without being put before FIFA's board; and the Folarin Balogun affair during the recent World Cup, The Guardian reported.

At the 2026 NFF congress, delegates had already asked the federation's board to consider taking Infantino before the ethics committee. Thursday's decision turns that request into action.

What gives this story an unusual edge is that Klaveness is one of very few women running a national federation. As of 5 August, only 10 of FIFA's 211 member associations had a female president, Reuters reported — and women are increasingly visible among those leading the resistance to Infantino's leadership.

Norway has also aligned itself with a broader European response. The NFF announced on 30 July that it supports a united UEFA position following a joint meeting of European federations that day. That meeting came amid talk of a possible boycott of FIFA competitions over the sell-off plan.

For fans, the stakes are straightforward. The World Cup is the tournament that stops the planet every four years. The idea that a share of it could be sold to private investors — and that FIFA's president could push such a plan without board-level discussion — is precisely what has pushed Norway to draw a line. Infantino survived the sell-off reversal. Whether he survives the backlash is a different question.