FIFA President Gianni Infantino announces candidacy for third term
Infantino has been chairman of FIFA since February 2016
Gianni Infantino announced on Thursday that he will stand for a third term as FIFA President.
On the occasion of the 72nd Congress of the International Football Federation, President Gianni Infantino, who completes his second term in 2023, indicated that he intended to stand for a third and final term of four years.
“I want to tell you that I will be a candidate 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 general secretary of European governing body UEFA before becoming FIFA president in 2016 following the corruption scandal that brought down his predecessor Sepp Blatter.
He then won a second term when he stood unopposed for re-election at a congress in Paris in 2019. His term was then four years and the next congress will be early next year“said Infantino.
At that same congress, Infantino rejected plans for a biennial World Cup as he claimed the changes were never a formal proposal.
Led by head of global football development Arsene Wenger, FIFA had promoted the idea of the World Cup changing format and taking place every two years, an idea strongly opposed by UEFA.
“Let me clarify one thing here – and I want to talk about some of the talk and speculation about a biennial World Cup”he said Thursday during his speech in Qatar. “Fifa has not proposed a biennial World Cup”says the boss of FIFA.
“The administration of FIFA, under the leadership of Arsene Wenger, did it. We have studied the feasibility. But FIFA didn’t come up with anything. FIFA came to the conclusion that it was doable, but it would have repercussions and impacts. The next phase consisted of consultations and discussions and trying to find agreements and compromises”he added.
Delegates from around the world of football gathered in Doha ahead of Friday’s draw for the World Cup, which Qatar is hosting in November and December this year.
