Gianni Infantino has been re-elected as president of the World football governing body (FIFA) for a mandate of four years after running unopposed this Thursday, March 16.
The 52-year-old was re-elected by acclamation during the 73rd edition of the FIFA Congress ongoing in Rwanda’s capital city, Kigali before representatives from FIFA’s 211 member nations.
“Thank you for your trust once again. Being president of FIFA is an incredible honor, privilege but a great responsibility which I humbly accept… With your support, let’s work together to unite the world through football“ a part of his speech after his re-election into office
”Those who love me, I know there are so many, and those who hate me, I know there are a few but of course I still love you all, today especially “He said, reacting to the fact that he knows he is not globally supported.
Being a Swiss lawyer, Gianni took over as President of FIFA in 2016, taking over from a crisis hit organization, where he entered and had to do some reshuffling.
He succeeded Sepp Blatter who was forced out after just one year of office out of a four-year term, leaving FIFA in an unpleasant state of corruption, embezzlement and lots more.
After being re-elected, Gianni mentioned women’s football will be given more priority unlike before and that FIFA would increase the prize money for this year’s Women’s World Cup to $110 million and provide millions more to participating teams.
This according to him, is 10 times more than when the tournament was played in 2015 and three times more than the previous edition in 2019.
This was one of the biggest highlights of Thursday’s congress alongside his additional mandate in office as President of FIFA once again, as it was in 2019 when he was re-elected.
FIFA rules compiled by a group of persons that included Infantino, limits presidents to three terms of four years, but on the eve of last year’s World Cup final, Infantino mentioned a review had “clarified” that his first three years in office did not count, allowing him potentially to run FIFA through to 2031.
While Infantino’s reign has been characterized by positive changes in football today, his term in office has also been marked by a little backbiting and failing to agree with some stakeholders.
One of which is the fact that, FIFA President, Infantino made a proposal to switch the quadrennial World Cup to a biennial event and also tried to push through a $25 billion sale of new events, including an expanded World Cup for clubs, which has caused FIFA and UEFA to be in a conflict since 2018 for disagreeing.
Gianni considered by many to be a savior as far as football governing is concerned since he took charge in 2016, will oversee World football until 2027.
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