Fifa: Gianni Infantino certain to be re-elected … for lack of competitors

Without rival, but not without detractors.

Propelled in 2016 at the head of a Fifa decimated by scandals, the Italian-Swiss Gianni Infantino seems certain to win a new four-year term in Kigali on Thursday.

Gathered in the Rwandan capital for the 73rd Congress of the world football body, the delegates of the 211 member federations will have only a limited choice: to renew the leader of 52 years, alone in the running as in 2019, or mark a disapproval symbolic.

A mandate until 2031?

The former confidant of Michel Platini at UEFA (2009-2016), therefore seems certain to remain at the top of world football at least until 2027. And if the statutes of the Zurich organization now provide for three terms a maximum of four years, Infantino has already prepared the ground to stay until 2031.

Since his arrival at the top of the chessboard of world football, he can boast of displaying a solid financial balance sheet, with an increase of 18% in income and 45% in reserves over the 2019-22 cycle compared to the previous one. .

Above the controversy

The Norwegian federation promises to bring the only discordant note from Congress on Thursday, having included on the agenda a discussion on "

" linked to FIFA competitions, while the organization has refused for months to compensate the families of workers who died or were injured on construction sites in Qatar.

Gianni Infantino is concentrating on his new project.

FIFA decided on December 16 to modify its Club World Cup to make it a four-year competition with 32 teams.

A project that his boss has been trying to bring to fruition for years to entice broadcasters and compete with the lucrative Champions League.

But this initiative could well awaken the fractures of football: the same day, the World League Forum, denounced the "

" of Fifa while the calendar is "

", threatening the health of the players, the balance between clubs and the economy of national competitions.

Subjects that do not seem to be the priority of Fifa and Infantino.