Gianni Infantino has been re-elected president of football governing body FIFA for a four-year term lasting till 2023.
The 49-year-old Swiss national was elected by acclamation as the sole candidate at the FIFA congress in Paris.
Infantino has served as president since his election in February 2016 to complete the term of his predecessor, Joseph Blatter, who is serving a six-year football ban.
The president told the 211 member associations before the vote that FIFA had come a long way since being embroiled in a series of corruption scandals that helped bring down Blatter in 2015.
“The last three years and four months were of course not perfect, I have definitely made mistakes,” he said.
“I have tried to improve myself but today no one speaks about crises. No one speaks about scandals, no one speaks about corruption anymore.”
For the first time since 2007, when Blatter was re-elected for his third term, there was no election vote after delegates agreed to change statutes and allow an acclamation.
Infantino praised positive financial developments and transparency at FIFA, saying it was “no longer possible at FIFA to hide figures … we know exactly where every dollar comes from and where every dollar goes.”
Helped by revenue from the 2018 World Cup in Russia, FIFA reported a surplus of more than $ 1billion in the 2015-2018 cycle.
Revenue from the 2018 World Cup alone was $4.6 billion, up $1.7 billion dollars from the previous tournament.
However, for 2020, FIFA expects a loss of $624 million.
Reserves, which had fallen below the billion mark for the first time in 2017, rose to a record $2.7 billion at the end of December 2018, much higher than the expected growth of $1.6bn.
FIFA’s corruption scandals, which led to Blatter’s downfall and criminal charges against a number of FIFA and other officials, had caused financial problems for the governing body, among other things due to high legal costs.
In addition, a number of sponsors did not renew contracts.
Infantino said that after experiencing its “worst crisis”, FIFA now had “a solid financial situation as never before”.
He promised member associations would continue to benefit after receiving $1.1billion from 2015 to 2018, up from $326 million in the previous cycle.
Now $1.7 billion is earmarked for the associations in the period to 2022 through FIFA’s Forward Development Programme, and FIFA will be checking closely how the money is spent, Infantino said.
In another development, Lennart Johansson, former UEFA president has died at 89.
Johansson headed European football’s governing body from 1990 to 2007 before being succeeded by Michel Platini.
He led the change from the European Cup to the Champions League in 1992, with multiple entries from some countries.
Johansson was defeated in the 1998 Fifa presidential election by Sepp Blatter, losing by 111 votes to 80.
Swedish FA president Karl-Erik Nilson said “no Swede has had a similar influence on football in the world”.
“Lennart Johansson was our biggest international football leader of all time,” Nilsson said on Wednesday.
“He was deeply respected as Uefa president and vice-president of Fifa; his leadership aroused admiration worldwide.”
Fifa president Gianni Infantino released a statement saying: “I am heartbroken by the news of the passing away of Lennart Johansson.
“He was a friend and an invaluable source of wisdom and inspiration.
“I will be forever grateful for having had him as the president of Uefa when I joined the organisation in 2000.
“Since then, Lennart has always been a role model of professionalism and, more importantly, of humanity.”
A moment of silence will be held at this week’s Uefa games, including Wednesday and Thursday’s Nations League semi-finals.
(Aljazeera)
