Gianni Infantino has been re-elected as president of FIFA until 2027 after standing unopposed at the congress of world football’s governing body on Thursday.
The 52-year-old Swiss lawyer, who succeeded the disgraced Sepp Blatter in 2016, was waved in for a third term by acclamation, just as he was four years ago, by delegates from the 211 member federations.
“To all those who love me, and I know there are so many, and also those who hate me, I know there are a few: I love you all,” Infantino told delegates in the Rwandan capital, where the voting system did not register the number of dissident voices.
While FIFA statutes currently limit a president to a maximum of three four-year terms, Infantino has already prepared the ground to stay until 2031, declaring in December that his first three years at the helm did not count as a full term.
Norwegian Football Federation president Lise Klaveness had said she would not back Infantino and tabled a proposal to discuss at the congress “FIFA’s responsibilities to remedy human rights abuses” about the Qatar World Cup and future tournaments.
The Norwegian and Swedish representatives in Kigali expressed their opposition to Infantino’s re-election by not joining the delegates who rose to applaud.
On Wednesday, the German FA president, Bernd Neuendorf, had said he would not support Infantino, citing a lack of transparency from FIFA and insufficient explanations of “why certain decisions are made and who was involved in them”.
However, Infantino’s mainly European-based opponents were not able to put forward a candidate to go against the man who was once Michel Platini’s number two at UEFA.
Infantino himself sought at the media who have condemned him and world football’s governing body, saying: “I don’t understand why some of you are so mean. I don’t get it.”
“Today I was re-elected after receiving more than 200 letters of endorsement, and a standing ovation, so an overwhelming majority has the feeling that I am doing a pretty good job, including in Europe,” he added.
He also spoke about the expansion of the men’s world cup teams from 32 to 48 and also of the women’s world cup teams from 24 to 32. He talked about an increment in prize money for participating teams and mentioned the expansion of the club’s world cup in 2025 which will be featuring 32 teams.
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