Infantino re-elected as FIFA president

Gianni Infantino gives his speech at the 73rd FIFA Congress held in Kigali, Rwanda, March 16, 2023. (Photo by Cyril Ndegeya/Xinhua)

Gianni Infantino was re-elected president of the International Federation of Football Association (FIFA) for the term of 2023-2027 at the 73rd FIFA Congress held in Kigali, Rwanda on Thursday.

As the only candidate for the position, 52-year-old Infantino will continue his tenure as the FIFA chief.

"Being a president is an incredible honor, privilege, and great responsibility. I'm so humbled and touched. I promise I'm going to continue to serve for football, and for the member associations," said Infantino after being re-elected.

Since his election, FIFA has made significant progress in developing the game across the world and strived to implement a comprehensive strategy to make football truly global.

Gianni Infantino (L, front) accepts congratulations at the 73rd FIFA Congress held in Kigali, Rwanda, March 16, 2023. (Photo by Cyril Ndegeya/Xinhua)

As of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the United States, the football extravaganza will be expanded to a 48-team competition to give more opportunities to countries and regions which are willing to develop their local football levels.

FIFA approved the Annual Report 2022 in February with a record-breaking revenue of 7.6 billion U.S. dollars during the 2019-2022 cycle, and the FIFA Council expected to earn 11 billion U.S. dollars during the 2023-2026 period.

A huge growth in women's football is witnessed as the FIFA Women's World Cup in France in 2019 reportedly had over 1.1 million spectators in the stadiums and more than one billion TV viewers around the globe. The 2023 edition in Australia and New Zealand will be even bigger as it will be the first to be played with 32 teams.

Technology, education, transfer reform and new digital platform have made massive impact on the game, and the fans are benefiting from the expansion of VAR, football program and FIFA+ to have more communication with each other from every corner of the world.

"It is FIFA's duty to ensure not only that global tournaments engage with girls and boys, women and men from all corners of the world, but also that football continues to provide opportunities to everyone, wherever they are born," said Infantino.