The Swiss Gianni Infantino will be able to continue as FIFA president until 2031, since, as he assured this Friday at a press conference in Doha, he is in his first term.
Gianni Infantino (Brig, Switzerland, 1970) became the ninth FIFA president on February 26, 2016, after the corruption case revealed in 2015, which ended the fifteen years of mandate of the Swiss Joseph Blatter, and was reelected on June 5, 2019 as the only candidate.
Coming from the UEFA, where he served as Secretary General since 2009, he won his first elections six years ago with 115 votes against 88 for Bahraini sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al Khalifa.
How did Infantino win the FIFA presidency?
In an initial vote with four candidates, the Swiss lawyer had surpassed him by only 3 votes (88 to 85); Jordanian prince Ali Bin Al Hussein got 4 and the Frenchman Jerome Champagne got none.
Infantino replaced Cameroonian Issa Hayatou as the FIFA president, who had assumed the position temporarily in the summer of 2015 when the Swiss Joseph Blatter left it days after being reelected for his fifth term (May 29, 2015) due to corruption scandals investigated by the justice system of the United States and Switzerland.
The next three years do not count, according to Infantino's statement in Doha, who assured that he is in his first term and that on March 16, 2023, in Kigali, Rwanda, he will be reelected as president as the sole candidate for the position.
The maximum limit of terms, according to the regulations of the highest body of world football, is three, so if he were to be reelected in 2027, he would be in charge until 2031.
