Infantino is officially running for a third term for the presidency of "FIFA" .. and withdraws from the World Cup every two years!
“I announce my candidacy again.” With these words, the President of the Swiss International Football Association, Gianni Infantino, addressed the national federations during the General Assembly of the football organization to announce his official candidacy for a final third term in its presidency Friday in Doha.
The elections will be held in early 2023 on the sidelines of the next FIFA Congress, at a date to be determined later.
Infantino, 52, was elected president of FIFA on February 26, 2016 following a resounding corruption scandal that rocked the world organization, and was re-elected by acclamation for a new four-year term in 2019.
Infantino, the former Secretary-General of the European Union (Wifa), got 115 in the first elections Against 84 for Bahraini Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, president of the Asian Confederation, four votes for Jordan's Prince Ali bin Al Hussein, and none for French Jerome Champagne.
And if he is re-elected as president, his third term will be his last, according to FIFA laws.
"I expect Jani to be the only candidate in the elections," Ahmed Ould Yahia, the Mauritanian second vice president of the Confederation of African Football, told beIN Sports.
Infantino was the Secretary General of the International Center for Sports Studies, and worked as a consultant for several sports bodies in Italy, Spain and Switzerland before starting to work with the European Union in August 2000 in the Legal and Commercial Affairs Department.
From 2004 to 2007, he worked as head of the Legal Affairs Department, then as temporary secretary-general with supervising the Legal Affairs Department (2007-2009), and finally as Secretary-General since October 2009 during the presidency of the French Michel Platini, who was later arrested with the Swiss FIFA president Sepp Blatter due to corruption cases. .
Infantino, born on March 23, 1970 in Brig, Switzerland, and married to the Lebanese Lina Ashkar, was recently announced that he is temporarily settled in Doha before the World Cup in Qatar.
He studied law in Switzerland, and is fluent in 5 languages: Italian, French, German, English and Spanish.
Retire from the World Cup every two years
On the other hand, Infantino touched on the idea of holding the World Cup every two years, stressing that his organization had never proposed this idea, which faced strong opposition, especially from the European and South American unions. A "settlement" in relation to this issue.
"Let me be very frank: FIFA has never proposed holding the World Cup every two years," Infantino said on the sidelines of the FIFA Congress.
He explained, "The last FIFA Congress (in 2021) assigned the FIFA administration to study the feasibility of organizing the World Cup every two years through a vote of 88 percent in favor of the idea."
"FIFA has not suggested anything, it has reached the conclusion that it is possible and will have an impact. The next step is to consult and reach an agreement and settlements," he added.
As for the expected proposal, it may be through a return to the establishment of the Confederations Cup, which includes eight teams, which was suspended in 2019 after it was established in 1992, or the inclusion of American teams in the European Nations League, the tournament created by the European Union in 2018, according to what the sources indicated to “AFP.” ".
FIFA had proposed the establishment of a world championship every two years, starting from 2026. The European Federation (Wifa) and the South American Federation (CONMEBOL) strongly opposed it, while the African and Asian federations seemed to be in a different position.
The International Olympic Committee got on the line and expressed its concerns about the competition.
"It will never happen," a senior football official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
On the other hand, Slovenian European Union President Aleksander Ceferin stressed this month that holding the World Cup every two years "is not happening" and FIFA is fully aware of this.
FIFA revenue
Infantino revealed that FIFA is about to reap record revenues of $7 billion against the backdrop of the World Cup in Qatar this year, while experts predicted a long-term financial prosperity for football.
Infantino believed that FIFA's finances were "great" and that he would exceed his potential goal of earning $ 6.4 billion in the four years until 2022, by about $ 600 million.
The International Federation has seen a rise in TV revenue, sponsors and marketing despite previous scandals and the coronavirus pandemic, as spectators turned more to television screens and other new platforms.
FIFA said in its calculations that it expected "television rights to set a new record" by the December 18 World Cup final.
FIFA, whose finances are managed in the four-year cycle between the World Cup finals, revealed revenues of $766 million for 2021 (parallel to 2019).
Although the Corona virus reduced revenues to 266 million dollars in 2020, FIFA achieved revenues of 6.11 billion dollars at the end of last year.
In a press conference that followed the Congress, the FIFA President touched on the controversy related to the situation of migrant workers working on construction sites in the 2022 World Cup, and spoke of "progress" in the field of human rights in Qatar, considering that the work done by Doha on this issue was "exemplary". .
"Of course not everything is perfect, of course not heaven, but no country is heaven. Progress has been made."
Qatar has been criticized for mistreatment of migrant workers and deaths on construction sites, as of 2016, it abolished the kafala system, a system that makes employees entirely subservient to the employer, and introduced in 2020 a minimum wage ($1.30 per hour).
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