Zurich, Nov 17: FIFA president Gianni Infantino is getting four more years in charge of football’s governing body after no candidate stepped up to challenge him.
FIFA said on Thursday the 52-year-old Swiss lawyer was the only person to enter the race by the time the deadline passed overnight – exactly four months before election day on March 16 in Kigali, Rwanda.
Infantino won a five-candidate race in 2016 to replace Sepp Blatter, and was re-elected unopposed in 2019. He’s now set to stay in the job beyond the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Infantino’s upcoming re-election to the $3 million-per-year job may not be his final term in office. FIFA rules allow him to run again to stay in power for another World Cup cycle until 2031.
A quirk of FIFA’s statutes means the first three years of Infantino’s presidency – when he completed an unfinished term started by Blatter – does not count against the 12-year limit agreed to in reforms passed during a prolonged corruption crisis before his first election. (AP)
