Gianni Infantino was re-elected as the president of FIFA until 2027 at the 73rd Congress of the body in the Rwandan capital Kigali on Thursday.
He was unopposed during the vote.
The 52-year-old Italian-Swiss, renewed under the same conditions in 2019 by the delegates of the 211 member federations, could remain at the head of world football until 2031 with his first three-year lease being considered incomplete.
Infantino’s re-election has been the subject of frequent dissent by FIFA’s member associations, over his support for the Qatar World Cup.
The voting system used this time did not make it possible to count dissenting votes.
In his defence, the 52-year-old can show FIFA’s solid financial balance sheet, with an 18% increase in income and 45% in reserves over the 2019-22 cycle compared to the previous one, allowing the body to further increase its subsidies to confederations and federations.
On the governance side, his last mandate was marked by a vast reform of transfers and maternity leave for professional players, alongside more protective rules of disciplinary procedure for victims of sexual violence.
The main projects for the next few years have already been approved: starting with the passage of the Men’s World Cup from 32 to 48 teams in the 2026 edition of the same, which will be shared between the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Decided in 2017, its format was set on Tuesday.
By opting for a group stage with twelve groups of four teams, the tournament will jump from 64 to 104 matches, a behemoth cut to explode ticketing revenue and attract even more broadcasters.
More delicately, FIFA decided on December 16 to expand its Club World Cup from an annual seven-team format to a quadrennial competition with 32 teams from the summer of 2025 – a project that Infantino is trying to bring to fruition for years to compete with the lucrative UEFA Champions League.
Source: Euro News
