Infantino to stand for re-election as FIFA president

Gianni Infantino  has announced  he will stand for re-election for a third term as president of FIFA.

“I want to tell you that I will be standing for re-election next year,” Infantino said at the congress of world football’s governing body in Doha.

Infantino, a 52-year-old Swiss-Italian lawyer, was the secretary general of European governing body UEFA before becoming FIFA president in 2016 in the wake of the corruption scandal that brought down predecessor Sepp Blatter.

He then won a second term when he stood unopposed for re-election at a congress in Paris in 2019.

His mandate then was for four years and the next congress will take place “some time at the beginning of next year”, Infantino said.

Delegates from across the football world were gathered in Doha ahead of today’s draw for the World Cup, which Qatar is hosting in November and December of this year.

Infantino who initially was backing biannual world cup proposal being spear headed by former Arsenal Manager and current FIFA chief of global football development Arsene Wenger has soft pedaled on the project following divided opinion with those opposed to it reportedly more across the globe.

READ ALSOInfantino backs away from biennial World Cup plans

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin ranks among top stakeholders opposed to the move.

Fifa had proposed the change as part of a revamped calendar noting that it would generate in excess of £3.3 billion in additional revenue over a four-year cycle, an argument which many say they are not ready to buy as it did not take other matters including players welfare into consideration.