Gianni Infantino re-elected as FIFA president for 2nd term

Giovanni Vincenzo "Gianni" Infantino has been re-elected un-opposed as Federation of International Football Federation (FIFA) for a four year term untill 2023.

Infantino has served as president since he came into office in February 2016 to complete the term of former president Sepp Blatter, who is serving a six-year football ban after he was forced out of office in 2015 following accusations of corruption in the awarding of the 2018 World Cup finals to Russia and the 2022 edition to Qatar.

"The ninth president in the history of the organisation was first elected at an Extraordinary Congress in February 2016 and now starts his first full four-year term of office after running unopposed and being elected by acclamation by FIFA’s 211 member associations." FIFA said in a statement.

The Swiss-Italian, 49 when addressing the congress said, "“In just over three years, this organisation went from being toxic, almost criminal, to being what it should be: an institution that develops football,” He added that “This new FIFA has a mission and a plan for it, which is why the next four years have, in fact, already started: we have laid solid building blocks for the future.”

FIFA’s supreme legislative body approved the Activity Report and financial statements for 2018, as well as the detailed budget for 2020, which includes USD 810 million allocated to investments in football.

While at the helm, he has managed to make changes to the Club World Cup, which will now be played by 24 teams after every four years despite top European clubs saying they would boycott the tournament. His other proposal to have 48 teams at the World Cup from 32 was however rejected with fears that it would be difficult for a single nation to handle them.

The 70th FIFA Congress will be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in May 2020.