Infantino is FINISHED as FIFA president - and it's time for one of game's greats to step up

When Gianni Infantino became president of FIFA in February, 2016, the previous incumbent sent a message. “I congratulate Gianni Infantino sincerely and warmly on his election as the new president,” wrote Sepp Blatter. "With his experience, expertise, strategic and diplomatic skills, he has all the qualities to continue my work.”

You were not wrong, Sepp. He has continued your rotten work … and then some. Thankfully, Infantino’s work is now done.

There is surely no scenario imaginable in which he can continue in his role. It is now just a question of how and when he goes. And it then becomes a question of who succeeds Infantino, the man whose rise to the role was greeted with widespread positivity over a decade ago.

“He is not a politician and he is not an ego,” said Greg Dyke, the chairman of the Football Association at the time. “FIFA has been dominated by egos for a very long time. He is the type of person who will just get on with the job.”

Don’t worry, Greg, you were not alone in being spectacularly wrong. The problem was that everyone in football was in ABB mode. Anyone But Blatter.

The same will probably be true when candidates line up to follow Infantino. The favourite for the job is Victor Montagliani, the 60-year-old Canadian who is currently the president of CONCACAF.

Mattias Granstrom, FIFA’s Swedish general secretary, is very well-respected in the organisation while Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, the Asian Confederation’s president since 2013, was the candidate narrowly beaten by Infantino in 2016. These potential successors are all highly thought of in football governance circles but then so was Infantino when he took over.

And do not forget, Infantino still had overwhelming support from member associations right up to his scarcely believable World Cup sell-off scheme. Which surely invites doubt about whether FIFA should be run by one autocratic, football administrator. It should not.

One of the positive things Infantino did was promote the FIFA Legends scheme. For a lot of the time, you felt he only did it so he could play football with famous ex-players - and sit next to them at matches - but, all the same, it is always nice to see greats of the game involved in its promotion.

Greats of the game have been involved in its administration down the years - with mixed results, it has to be said. Most notably, Michel Platini’s presidency of UEFA ended in scandal.

But the world game does not need an autocrat, an executive whose political acumen can force through unwelcome changes. The world game needs a figurehead.

It needs someone who does not need the extra fame. Or the extra money, even. The organisation can be done by committee, of which FIFA has many.

It needs a leader who is emblematic of the sport, rather than a schmoozer, a mover and shaker who wants to court the rich, powerful and famous. It does need a lawyer or a PR man or woman.

When Blatter was elected for a fifth term in May, 2015, Luis Figo had originally planned to stand. He withdrew late in the contest but, for a while, he was an interesting candidate.

And he still would be, along with a whole raft of ex-players - both male and female - with a global standing. Perhaps Sir David Beckham might want to put his hand up.

But seriously, Infantino needs to go and the role needs to change. World football does not need an administrator who can become intoxicated by power - it needs a figurehead who represents everything good about the game.