Four years ago, Oceania presented a united front behind Gianni Infantino.
Ahead of the 2023 FIFA presidential election, all 11 members of the Oceania Football Confederation were publicly committed to the Swiss administrator. OFC president Lambert Maltock announced the region’s unanimous support, praising what FIFA had delivered for football across the Pacific.
That unity no longer exists.
As Infantino faces one of the most serious political crises of his presidency, New Zealand Football has withdrawn its support for his re-election and demanded greater accountability from FIFA.
Yet rather than triggering a wider rebellion inside Oceania, New Zealand’s decision has so far produced the opposite picture.
New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tahiti and American Samoa have all subsequently expressed support for Infantino, with several of them explicitly declaring that they want him re-elected as FIFA president.
The emerging picture leaves New Zealand increasingly isolated among the OFC associations that have publicly stated their position.
The dispute began with the controversial FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal, which would have reorganised part of FIFA’s commercial operations and opened a stake in the governing body’s commercial rights to private investment.
The project generated strong opposition from some of world football’s most powerful organisations and eventually collapsed.
UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation and CONCACAF challenged FIFA’s handling of the proposal, while criticism increasingly focused on governance, consultation and the amount of authority concentrated around Infantino.
The controversy has since escalated well beyond the original proposal.
Several national associations have withdrawn their support for Infantino, questions over confidence in the FIFA leadership have intensified and the search for a possible challenger ahead of the 2027 presidential election has begun.
New Zealand became Oceania’s most significant dissenting voice.
NZ Football formally withdrew its support for Infantino’s candidature and called for an independent review into how the FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal was developed.
The federation said recent decisions within FIFA had contributed to a breakdown in trust and greater division within international football.
For New Zealand, the issue became one of governance, accountability and transparency.
Its stance was particularly significant because OFC had been one of Infantino’s most reliable regions.
In October 2022, Maltock had announced that all 11 Oceania associations supported Infantino’s nomination for another term.
New Zealand was part of that unanimous endorsement.
Less than four years later, it has become the first OFC member to openly break from the FIFA president.
However, the reaction elsewhere in the Pacific has been markedly different.
New Caledonia was among the first associations to make its position clear.
The Fédération Calédonienne de Football publicly and unambiguously reaffirmed its support for Infantino.
FCF president Steeve Laigle acknowledged that the handling of the controversial proposal represented a political mistake, but argued that Infantino’s wider record could not be ignored.
For New Caledonia, the central issue is what the current FIFA administration has delivered to smaller football countries.
The federation pointed to greater access to resources, development opportunities and a more equitable place for smaller associations within world football.
Laigle subsequently made New Caledonia’s electoral position explicit: the federation intends to vote for Infantino in the 2027 FIFA presidential election.
Papua New Guinea followed with an even stronger declaration.
The Papua New Guinea Football Association welcomed Infantino’s decision to withdraw the FIFA Forward Enterprise initiative and described the move as demonstrating his commitment to unity, solidarity and mutual respect within FIFA.
PNGFA said it valued his leadership, vision and commitment to football development during the past decade.
It then went beyond a general statement of support.
The federation explicitly declared that it backs Infantino’s re-election at the next FIFA Elective Congress in Morocco.
For PNGFA, continued leadership under Infantino would help strengthen the game globally while continuing to advance the interests of football throughout Oceania.
Solomon Islands also entered the discussion.
The Solomon Islands Football Federation released an official statement declaring its support for Infantino and expressing continued confidence in his leadership.
SIFF similarly focused on development.
The federation highlighted what it described as significant progress during Infantino’s decade in charge of FIFA and the benefits experienced by football both across Oceania and within Solomon Islands.
While the SIFF statement did not make its future vote as explicit as PNG’s declaration, there was little ambiguity regarding its current political position: the Solomon Islands federation remains behind Infantino.
Tahiti then added another influential Pacific voice.
The Fédération Tahitienne de Football reaffirmed its confidence in the FIFA president despite recognising that the Forward Enterprise controversy had created legitimate questions around governance, transparency and consultation.
Tahiti nevertheless argued that the dispute should not erase what has been achieved under Infantino.
The federation highlighted increased opportunities for Oceania, development assistance, greater equality between FIFA members and progress within Tahitian football itself.
FTF also backed the continuation of Infantino’s leadership and his candidature for another term.
American Samoa has now provided one of the clearest endorsements of all.
In a letter published by the Football Federation American Samoa and signed by president Alexander T. Godinet, FFAS praised Infantino’s leadership and the attention given to smaller member associations.
American Samoa said it had benefited greatly from his vision, dedication and efforts to develop football globally.
The federation then offered what it described as its “full and unequivocal support” for Infantino’s re-election as FIFA president.
FFAS said it was confident his continued leadership would strengthen football and advance FIFA’s mission for all member associations.
The statement also produced a visibly critical reaction among some followers on the federation’s Facebook page, with several comments questioning the decision and the motivations behind it.
The federation itself, however, could hardly have expressed its institutional position more clearly.
OFC has been more restrained in its language than several of its members, but the confederation has also stopped well short of following New Zealand.
After the collapse of the Forward Enterprise proposal, OFC supported a review of the process and acknowledged the need to identify changes that may be required.
At the same time, it emphasised the progress made in Oceania during the past decade under FIFA’s current leadership.
That distinction is important.
OFC has not issued the same direct electoral commitment as Papua New Guinea or American Samoa, but its assessment of the Infantino era remains overwhelmingly centred on the development achieved across the region.
And development is the common thread running through almost every Pacific statement supporting the FIFA president.
For many OFC members, FIFA is not a distant organisation primarily associated with the World Cup.
Its programmes directly affect football infrastructure, national academies, domestic competitions, administration and opportunities for national teams.
FIFA Forward investment has had a particularly large impact on countries whose football federations operate with limited domestic commercial revenue.
The expansion of the FIFA World Cup has also transformed Oceania’s position within international football.
OFC now has a guaranteed direct place at the tournament, ending the long-standing situation in which the region’s champion still had to survive an intercontinental play-off simply to reach the World Cup.
FIFA has also backed the development of the OFC Professional League and increased the opportunities available to Pacific nations through international competitions and development structures.
Infantino has repeatedly used these changes as evidence that Oceania has been transformed during his presidency.
The federations supporting him are now making much the same argument.
Their statements do not necessarily deny that mistakes were made surrounding FIFA Forward Enterprise.
Instead, they argue that the controversy must be weighed against a decade in which smaller nations received greater funding, access and representation.
New Zealand has reached a different conclusion.
Although NZ Football has itself benefited from developments during the Infantino era — including co-hosting the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup and securing direct World Cup qualification through Oceania’s expanded allocation — it has decided that concerns over FIFA’s governance are serious enough to withdraw its political support.
That creates a striking divide.
The strongest football nation in Oceania is currently the region’s clearest opponent of Infantino, while several of the smaller Pacific associations have become some of his most vocal defenders.
The positions of the remaining OFC members are still important.
Fiji has responded to aspects of the Forward Enterprise controversy but has not, so far, issued a similarly explicit declaration regarding Infantino himself.
No comparable public statement has yet been identified from Vanuatu, Samoa, Tonga or Cook Islands.
Vanuatu is particularly notable because VFF president Lambert Maltock also serves as president of OFC and as a FIFA vice-president.
Any separate declaration from Vanuatu would therefore carry additional political significance.
But even without those remaining positions, the regional picture is already very different from 2022.
Then, Oceania spoke with one voice.
Now, New Zealand has withdrawn its support while five Pacific associations — New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tahiti and American Samoa — have publicly lined up behind Infantino.
Some have gone further by explicitly committing themselves to his re-election.
The split is developing while Infantino’s position becomes increasingly contested elsewhere.
Opposition has grown among European associations, Denmark has joined those calling for an alternative candidate and FIFA general secretary Mattias Grafström has reportedly been approached over the possibility of challenging Infantino.
The 2027 FIFA election is therefore beginning to look substantially less predictable than it once did.
For Oceania, however, one trend is already apparent.
The unanimous regional support Infantino enjoyed four years ago is gone.
But so far, New Zealand has not inspired a Pacific revolt.
Instead, as the pressure on the FIFA president has increased, several of Oceania’s smaller football nations have chosen to publicly rally around him.
The unanswered question is whether any of the remaining OFC associations will eventually join New Zealand — or whether New Zealand will remain the lone regional federation willing to break with a FIFA president who continues to enjoy deep support across the Pacific.
