The leader revealed that he will run in the 2027 elections.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino will run for re=election as head of the organization in 2027, aiming for a third and final term, the Italian-Swiss official, who has been in office since 2016, announced on Thursday.
I feel honored and grateful, and I want to tell the 211 member associations that I will be a candidate for the FIFA presidency in next year’s elections, said the official at the organization’s 76th Congress in Vancouver, Canada.
Infantino, 56, was appointed as the ninth president in FIFA’s history in 2016, defeating three opponents at the polls, to succeed Swiss Joseph Blatter, who resigned a year earlier and was barred from participating in the organization’s activities until 2027 after facing accusations of fraud and corruption, from which he would be definitively acquitted by the Swiss justice system in 2025.
After completing the remainder of Blatter’s final term, Gianni Infantino ran unopposed in 2019 and 2023, being elected by acclamation in both elections by the 211 federations affiliated with FIFA. For now, he has no opponents in the 2027 election.
The African (CAF), South American (CONMEBOL), and Asian (AFC) confederations had already expressed support for the lawyer’s candidacy, who is seeking a third consecutive term and could reach 15 years in office if he is reappointed and remains in office until 2031.
According to FIFA statutes, Infantino’s first three-year presidency does not count towards the 12-year limit, meaning the Italian-Swiss president has the possibility of leading the organization during the 2030 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by Portugal, Spain, and Morocco.
The former UEFA general secretary announced his candidacy six weeks before the start of the 2026 World Cup, which will take place from June 11 to July 19 and will feature 48 teams for the first time, including Portugal, in an unprecedented tripartite organization between the United States, Mexico and Canada.
A member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) since 2020, Gianni Infantino has faced numerous controversies, especially in recent months, due to his connection with the President of the United States, Donald Trump, to whom he awarded the first FIFA Peace Prize in December 2025.
The human rights organization FairSquare filed a complaint against Infantino with FIFA’s Ethics Committee, accusing him of violating the integrity and reputation of football through his various actions in favor of the leader of the United States, the country that will host 78 of the 104 matches of the next World Cup, including the final in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
The FIFA elections will take place in March 2027 in Rabat, the capital of Morocco, the organization announced in Vancouver, where officials from the sport were present, including the president of the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF), Pedro Proença, while the Iranian delegation cancelled its attendance, citing insulting behavior by immigration police upon arrival in Canada.