How Gianni Infantino rose to rule football
Gianni Infantino is staying on as FIFA president despite growing pressure to step down. So who is football's most powerful man, why did UEFA and
Gianni Infantino is staying on as FIFA president despite growing pressure to step down. So who is football's most powerful man, why did UEFA and others turn against him, and how did he reassert his authority? Despite strong pressure for him to resign, particularly from UEFA, Gianni Infantino convinced FIFA's Board of Management to express their full support for him following a crisis meeting in Rabat on Wednesday. It was the latest development in a crisis that began with news last week of a FIFA plan to create a subsidiary, FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), to run the men's World Cup and its other events, with a stake of up to 20% to be offered to external investors. Where did Gianni Infantino come from? Giovanni Vincenzo Infantino was born on March 23, 1970, in the southwestern Swiss town of Brig to Italian parents. Many years later, as FIFA president, he would speak of the discrimination he said he experienced as he grew up for being of Italian heritage in Switzerland. Infantino studied law at the University of Fribourg, before becoming the general secretary of the International Centre for Sports Studies at the University of Neuchatel in 1997. What did Infantino do before FIFA? Infantino, who speaks six languages, first gained notoriety beyond Switzerland after joining UEFA, football's European governing body, in 2000. There, he would climb the corporate ladder to become the organization's general secretary in 2009. Serving under former UEFA President Michel Platini, Infantino's position kept him largely out of the public eye, but during this time his face became a familiar one to European football fans, as one of his roles was hosting the Champions League and Euros draws, broadcast live on TV. How did Infantino become FIFA president? The door to the FIFA presidency was knocked open by the 2015 FIFA corruption scandal in which several officials were indicted, seven of whom were arrested at a Zurich hotel.
This came just ahead of a FIFA Congress to elect a new president. Although Sepp Blatter won reelection for a fifth term, he announced his resignation just days later. An extraordinary FIFA Congress was called for February 2016. Sepp Blatter, who left FIFA under a corruption cloud, has been a critic of Infantino Image: Stefan Wermuth/REUTERS Infantino looked a rank outsider when he threw his hat into the ring. Platini, his boss at UEFA, was the favorite, but he withdrew his candidacy a month before the election, after both he and Blatter had been banned over ethics violations involving a dubious payment. In the days leading up to the vote, Sheik Salman bin Ibrahim al Khalifa of Bahrain emerged as the frontrunner among the seven candidates. However, Infantino, running on a pledge to clean up what was a scandal-ridden organization, won the presidency in the second round of voting. He'd also promised to increase FIFA payments to every member association. "We will restore the image of FIFA and the respect of FIFA, and everyone in the world will applaud us and will applaud all of you for what we'll do in FIFA in the future," Infantino told the delegates in Zurich's Hallenstadion. What has Infantino done in power? Gianni Infantino has presided over a decade of unprecedented growth in revenue for FIFA, culminating in the 2026 World Cup – the first to feature 48 teams and 104 games – compared to 32 teams and 64 games in Qatar four years earlier. This was bound to generate higher revenue, but it was compounded by the dynamic pricing system FIFA introduced for the tournament. This led to sky-high prices for tickets – and FIFA went one better by getting into the secondary market – and taking a 15% cut from both buyer and seller on every transaction.
The BriefWire