FIFA President Gianni Infantino will remain four more years at the helm of football’s governing body after no other candidate ran to face him.
FIFA said Thursday that the 52-year-old Swiss lawyer was the only person to apply by the previous night’s deadline — exactly four months before the elections scheduled for March 16 in Kigali, Rwanda.
Infantino emerged victorious from a five-way bid in 2016 to succeed Joseph Blatter and was re-elected unopposed in 2019. He will lead beyond the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
He could have another term for a $3 million-a-year job. FIFA regulations will allow him to apply again for a tournament that lasts until 2031.
The peculiarity of FIFA’s statutes allows that the first three years of Infantino’s presidential term – when he completed the term begun by Blatter – are not taken into account during the 12-year period set in reforms approved in the wake of a corruption scandal that led to his first election.
Aside from the spheres of football, what threatens Infantino’s leadership is the investigation by two special prosecutors in Switzerland into three secret meetings with then Attorney General Michael Lauber in 2016 and 2017 during investigations launched in the United States and Switzerland. leaders.
Under the supervision of the Swiss parliament, it is not known how the case and the degree of its jurisdiction will advance Infantino as a private citizen who could be accused of influence peddling. He denied committing crimes.
During Infantino’s current term, which began in June 2019, FIFA has had to draw down its reserves – just over $2 billion – and agree emergency measures to preserve football during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The global health crisis has caused the 2020 World Cup qualifiers to be suspended. The tournament kicks off in Qatar on Sunday.
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