In a twist that could make even the most cynical football fan raise an eyebrow, senior figures in African football have reportedly been chatting up FIFA's general secretary, Mattias Grafström, about possibly taking on Gianni Infantino in next year's presidential election. The Guardian has learned that as many as 15 federations in Africa are ready to give Infantino the red card when he seeks re-election, despite the Confederation of Africa Football (Caf) claiming its executive committee had "unanimously reconfirmed" support for the embattled 56-year-old.

Grafström, a 45-year-old Swede, initially distanced himself from Infantino's controversial Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) plan - a scheme to sell off 20% of the World Cup's commercial rights that was mercifully abandoned. In a memo three days after the plan's demise, he told staff that "individuals, unstable moments and unfortunate episodes come and go." However, he quickly fell into line, signing a letter of "full support" for Infantino 24 hours later and informing employees that chief operating officer Kevin Lamour - who had criticized the FFE proposal - had been sacked.

But his brief moment of dissent apparently sparked hope among Infantino's African opponents. Two presidents of African federations reportedly phoned Grafström separately last week to gauge his interest in running. He was said to be surprised by the approach and non-committal, which is diplomatic for "maybe, but don't quote me."

"They think that Matthias can group all the continents together and then go forward," said a source who is a member of the exco. "I don't know what his position is right now but if he can bring all these people together then he would get some support. Matthias is a very open-minded guy and he always listens to what we think."

Grafström, who didn't respond to the Guardian's request for comment, was appointed permanent general secretary in May 2024 after an interim stint. He's worked closely with Caf and some African federations over the past two years, but whether he'll emerge as a rival for the presidency remains as uncertain as a penalty decision in a VAR review.

Africa has traditionally been an Infantino stronghold, but discontent has been brewing. The decision to hold the Africa Cup of Nations every four years instead of every two - a change many believe FIFA imposed at the end of last year - has gone down like a lead balloon. Multiple sources say that at Caf's most recent meeting on 7 August, only four of the 21 exco members publicly declared support for Infantino, including Caf president Patrice Motsepe and vice-president Fouzi Lekjaa from Morocco. "The rest remained silent," said one attendee. "People don't want to give their views in public because they are waiting to see what happens."

With 54 members, Africa could be the key to unseating Infantino, as any opponent would need 106 of the 211 FIFA members to vote against him. Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa, president of the Asian Football Confederation, who has allied with Uefa and Concacaf against Infantino, is believed to still have significant support in Africa, having lost to Infantino in 2015. "If Salman is coming for sure he's going to be elected," the source added. "If Europe will give him support, he will get the support from Asia, he will get support from Concacaf. And he will get some support from Africa. For sure, 10 to 15 people will vote for Salman."

But any would-be challengers must show they can match Infantino's financial promises. The FFE plan was hoped to funnel around $20m a year to each association. "If Uefa or anyone else has something better, they should propose it - if anyone has anything better than Infantino then people will vote for them," said the exco member. "If someone will come and say, 'OK we are going to have an agreement with Uefa that means we support poor countries so we can build good infrastructures there' then they will support him." So there you have it: in the world of football politics, loyalty is as durable as a paper certificate, and cash is king.