{"id":2655,"date":"2026-10-08T13:42:44","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T05:42:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/?p=2655"},"modified":"2026-10-08T13:42:44","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T05:42:44","slug":"former-tottenham-defender-vega-eyes-fifa-top-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/08\/former-tottenham-defender-vega-eyes-fifa-top-job\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Tottenham defender Vega eyes FIFA top job"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"562\" src=\"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/image-8.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2656\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/image-8.png 1000w, https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/image-8-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/image-8-767x431.png 767w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Former Switzerland, Tottenham Hotspur and Celtic defender Ramon Vega intends to stand in the FIFA presidential elections scheduled for early 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At 55, Vega has emerged as the first candidate to position himself as a direct challenger to incumbent Gianni Infantino in the race for the FIFA presidency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Infantino has already confirmed his intention to seek re-election, brushing aside mounting controversy over proposals to sell private stakes in the World Cup while resisting calls from several governing bodies demanding his resignation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The former centre-back, who plied his trade across Switzerland and England and earned 29 caps for his national team, hung up his boots in 2004 before forging a successful career in the finance sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;I am standing to unite the football family and bring about reform and modernisation to FIFA, to restore its stability and credibility, and rebuild the trust our sport urgently needs. I am running because my life has prepared me to help this game,&#8221; Vega told the &#8216;BBC&#8217;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Football does not belong to presidents, confederations, or administrators. Football goes beyond that; it is the people&#8217;s sport. The current leadership has demoralised football. It has damaged FIFA&#8217;s credibility. We must stop this before it worsens.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Prospective candidates must submit their bids before 18 November, with the decisive vote scheduled to take place on 18 May at the FIFA Congress in Rabat, Morocco.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Switzerland, Tottenham Hotspur and Celtic defend [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2656,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2655"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2657,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2655\/revisions\/2657"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}