Gianni Infantino to run for FIFA re-election with broad support from multiple confederations

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — FIFA president Gianni Infantino announced Thursday at the soccer governing body’s annual Congress that he will seek re-election when his current term expires in 2027.

Infantino made the declaration at the end of an hours-long event during which he trumpeted his record over the past 10 years and promised FIFA’s 211 members that they will receive a total of $2.7 billion in distributions over the next four years.

“I want to confirm to you that I will be candidate for the FIFA election of president next year,” Infantino said to close the Congress, and much of the room responded with applause.

He will run with the backing of at least three of global soccer’s six confederations. The sport’s governing bodies for Africa and Asia, which together represent 100 of those 211 member associations, announced Wednesday that they would support Infantino’s re-election bid — before Infantino himself had even announced that he would run. They joined the South American confederation CONMEBOL, which already backed Infantino for re-election earlier this month.

Infantino will therefore be a prohibitive favorite to serve four more years, and could be the only candidate, as he was in 2019 and 2023.

Infantino became FIFA president in 2016 when he won a tightly-contested special election in the wake of a sweeping corruption scandal that ousted his predecessor, Sepp Blatter. He quickly increased financial distributions to all of FIFA’s 2011 member associations and consolidated the support of many.

He ran unopposed for re-election in 2019 and 2023. With FIFA’s statutes limiting presidents to “no more than three terms of office,” some felt that the current term should be his last. But Infantino announced on the eve of the 2022 World Cup final that it had been “clarified” to him and FIFA’s governing Council that his first three years in office, from 2016-2019, did not count toward the limit because they were not a full four-year team.

So, Infantino will be allowed to serve 15 years.

Trump and Infantino have developed a close friendship (Jia Haocheng – Pool/Getty Images)

Outside FIFA, he has been the subject of an ethics complaint from the non-profit FairSquare, and of constant ridicule and anger among fans who object to FIFA’s World Cup ticket prices, Infantino’s glowing praise of U.S. President Donald Trump, or any number of other issues.

But among constituents — the world’s 211 national soccer federations, each of whom gets one vote — there is rarely dissent. Under Infantino, FIFA’s revenues have grown to record highs, which has allowed the president to promise record financial distributions to the federations. Each member was entitled to the same $8 million as a baseline from 2023-26 — with more available to those “needing the most assistance.”

Infantino, in public comments, frequently reminds them that “three quarters of them would probably not be able to have organized sport without” FIFA’s financial support. (That claim, of course, is disputed.)

This week in Vancouver, he and the FIFA Council also threw a bone to bigger federations. They upped the financial distribution to all of the 2026 World Cup’s 48 participating teams by more than $2 million each.

In his Thursday speech, Infantino repurposed a line from his first election speech back in 2016. “FIFA’s money is your money,” he told the hundreds of soccer officials gathered, “and we owe it of course to all of you.”

He then said the distributions would increase “by 20 percent” for the 2027-2030 men’s World Cup cycle. The $2.7 billion will be handed out to member associations “so that you have more to invest in the training, in the development of your youth teams, of your girls, of your boys, all over the world.”

“And I can assure you as well that these $2.7 billion that we are investing in the next cycle are just the starting point, are just the minimum of what we do and we want to do,” he continued. “And will do, definitely as well, much, much more.”

Infantino also sent the message that has kept three consecutive FIFA presidents — João Havelange, Sepp Blatter and now Infantino — in power for decades, because of the organization’s one-nation-one-vote structure.

“FIFA has 211 members, and all 211 are equal,” he said. “You are all equal to us. We will not [leave] anyone behind. … We will continue to make sure that all of you, all 211 are brought into the global fabric of football, and that the benefits that we can generate from a World Cup, from a Club World Cup, from a Women’s World Cup, from a Women’s Club World Cup, and so on so forth, go back to the entire world.”

He later promised that FIFA “will do much better than” the $14 billion in revenue that FIFA has budgeted for the 2027-2030 cycle.

The breadth of support for Infantino is unclear in North America and Europe. Infantino’s ideas and antics have frequently drawn resistance from some European federations and even the continent’s confederation, UEFA.

But he does not need their support to win re-election.

In its statement earlier this month, CONMEBOL, which has 10 members, paid tribute to Infantino’s “leadership” and the “advances made,” particularly in football’s development, during Infantino’s presidency.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC), which has 47 members (46 of which are FIFA members), then said Wednesday that its executive committee had “expressed its unanimous and unwavering support for FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s re-election for the next term.”

Its president, Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa of Bahrain, said in a statement: “During the past 10 years, FIFA, under the leadership of President Gianni Infantino, and AFC have worked closely and successfully together for the development of the game both in Asia and globally. FIFA is in its best position ever and we offer our continued and full support to him as a candidate for FIFA President for the term 2027-2031, just as the AFC and Asian football has always supported him since his election in 2016.”

The same day, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) released a brief statement saying that its 54 member associations “unanimously agreed to support Gianni Infantino to be re-elected as President of FIFA for the period 2027-2031.”

The following day, Thursday, was the first official day of the “electoral period,” during which “electoral campaigning is permitted.”

The deadline for a member to propose a candidate for the election is November 18.

The election will be held at next year’s FIFA Congress on March 18, 2027, in Rabat, Morocco.

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC), which has 47 members (46 of which are FIFA members), then said Wednesday that its executive committee had “expressed its unanimous and unwavering support for FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s re-election for the next term.”

Its president, Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa of Bahrain, said in a statement: “During the past 10 years, FIFA, under the leadership of President Gianni Infantino, and AFC have worked closely and successfully together for the development of the game both in Asia and globally. FIFA is in its best position ever and we offer our continued and full support to him as a candidate for FIFA President for the term 2027-2031, just as the AFC and Asian football has always supported him since his election in 2016.”

The same day, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) released a brief statement saying that its 54 member associations “unanimously agreed to support Gianni Infantino to be re-elected as President of FIFA for the period 2027-2031.”