Gianni Infantino re-elected as FIFA president until 2027

Gianni Infantino has been re-elected as FIFA president unopposed for another four-year term at the 73rd FIFA Congress in Kigali, Rwanda.

He was first appointed in 2016 following the resignation of Sepp Blatter, and re-elected in 2019 unopposed.

Infantino has officially started his second term in office and will hope to take the world association football governing body to the next level.

The Swiss will be available for a third and final term in 2027, and he is expected to contest.

Infantino promised to expand the World Cup to 40 teams back in 2016.

The format did not hold in 2018 and 2022 as the 32-team format was held onto.

However, the World Cup has been expanded to 48 teams starting from the 2026 edition.

The competition will be hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States.

The 32-team format comprised eight groups made up of four countries each. The best two teams then proceeded to the round of 16.

The 48-team will consist of 12 groups of four teams each. The top two and eight best third-placed teams will advance to a round of 32.

The expanded World Cup will consist of 104 matches instead of the 64 games under the old format.

It means the finalists of the next tournament will play one more game.

Infantino wants to go down in history as the best FIFA president of all time.

He is looking to promote gender equality in football, and the prize money for this year’s women’s World Cup will be £125 million.

It is ten times what it was in 2015 and three times the amount in 2019.

However, it is still considerably lower than the £365m total prize money awarded at the men’s World Cup last year.

Nevertheless, it is a positive step in the right direction, and more similar initiatives can be expected from the FIFA president.