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Montagliani is the president of Concacaf, which runs football in North and Central America and the Caribbean.

Like Infantino, he was elected in 2016 promising governance reform. A former president of Canada Soccer, Montagliani was heavily involved in the build-up to, and delivery of, the 2026 World Cup – the first to be hosted by three nations. He is fluent in French, Italian and Spanish, as well as English.

Explaining his decision to run for the Concacaf presidency, Montagliani told the BC Business website: “Like anything, when I decide to go, I go. I campaigned on my own dime for three months, went to see all 41 countries, from the US to Bonaire – a little island off Venezuela.”

Montagliani took the lead when Concacaf hosted an expanded Copa America in 2024. In an interview with BBC Sport, he rejected the idea it could become a regular occurrence.

Politically strong, he smoothed relations around former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger’s attempt to gain support for a World Cup every two years, and has never truly bought into the idea of a 64-team tournament.

At the Leaders conference in 2025, he outlined why he felt football was strong enough to ride out any storm.

“The game is bigger than world current leaders,” he said. “Football will survive regimes. Does it cause a headache? Of course. You have to be realistic about that. That is the beauty of our game, it is bigger than any individual and country.”