Gianni Infantino – 10 years as FIFA President

Despite the controversy, one fact remains: There is no meaningful opposition to Infantino.

While the 55-year-old may face criticism in Europe, he has clearly made a difference to the rest of the world. Yes, it’s about money. But money is for football.

It has enriched some of the poorest and smallest footballing nations, proving financing through infrastructure and development.

Infantino has been true to his word that FIFA will be transparent, publishing the salaries of all senior executives and keeping the money within football.

The Swiss fulfilled his initial promise to provide an additional $5 million (£3.7 million) to each national federation over the first four years, and $40 million (£29.7 million) to each continental federation.

Over the first two cycles of the FIFA Forward project until 2022, $2.8 billion (£2.08 billion) has been made available for investment across 211 member associations in more than 1,600 projects.

FIFA Forward 3.0, external – covering the years 2023 to 2026 – achieved a 30% increase in funding.

Infantino provided an additional $5m (£3.7m) to each member association, with a further $60m (£44.48m) paid to each confederation for its own projects.

After being re-elected unopposed in 2019 and 2023, he is approaching another election year in 2027.

Infantino will be able to run again, although FIFA regulations limit the president’s term to a maximum of three terms.

In 2022, the Governance, Audit and Compliance Committee ruled that his first term would not be counted, as it was only three years long.

With the way Infantino has improved the financial situation of many federations, it is difficult to see how anyone can realistically challenge him in 2027.

Nearly half of the votes in 2011 belonged to Asia and Africa, two regions that benefited from the huge increase in financial resources.

Infantino may be criticized for the way he has expanded the Club World Cup, the FIFA World Cup, and increased ticket prices.

But he sees it as a way to increase investment in the game around the world.

This is the winner of the vote.