Madrid: Javier Tebas, president of Spain's top-flight football league La Liga, called on FIFA President Gianni Infantino to step down, declaring that his era at the helm of world football was over.

According to Anadolu Agency, Tebas became the latest senior football official to challenge Infantino's leadership following the collapse of FIFA's proposed World Cup privatization plan. 'For me, Gianni Infantino's time has long since passed,' Tebas told French newspaper Le Monde in an interview published Sunday.

A longtime critic of Infantino, Tebas said the recent controversy had exposed management practices he had opposed for years. He also accused Infantino of promoting elite-focused projects at the expense of national leagues, 'destroying the very essence of football.' 'For me, the Infantino era is over,' he said.

Tebas then extended his criticism to FIFA's wider governance system, stressing that replacing Infantino would not be enough and calling for broader change within world football's governing body. 'And the problem is not limited to one person: It is about an entire system. The old system can persist even when the people change. Let's hope things truly change, that a new leader arrives, and that new governance is established at FIFA,' Tebas added.

Infantino has faced mounting pressure since FIFA's previously undisclosed FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposal became public. The plan involved selling a 20% stake in a new commercial entity valued at $20 billion that would manage rights linked to the World Cup and other FIFA competitions.

FIFA later shelved the proposal following widespread opposition led by UEFA, which had threatened to boycott FIFA competitions, but criticism of Infantino's leadership has continued. UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the Confederation of North, Central America, and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) issued a joint open letter Monday accusing Infantino of deception and a fundamental breach of trust over the proposal.

'When trust is broken through deception, when an individual places himself above the collective that entrusted him with authority, that duty has been abandoned,' the letter said. The three confederations called for an independent review of the failed proposal without FIFA's involvement.