Gianni Infantino re-elected as FIFA president unopposed

Gianni Infantino was elected as FIFA president for a second term in Paris on Wednesday, it has been announced.

The 49-year-old was the only candidate for the election and the traditional vote was replaced by a round of applause at FIFA’s 69th congress.

Infantino was first chosen as president in February 2016 following the major corruption scandal at football’s world governing body that led to the resignation of Sepp Blatter.

He was tasked with restoring FIFA’s reputation following the scandal that rocked the game.

Infantino used his opening speech to list his achievements since taking over at an extraordinary congress in 2016.

Reflecting on how far FIFA has come in three years and four months, Infantino said: “Today nobody is talking about crisis, nobody is talking about rebuilding from scratch, nobody is talking about corruption.

We have turned things around. FIFA has gone from being toxic, almost criminal, to what it should be, an organisation that develops and cares about football.

In his closing speech, Infantino thanked the delegates from FIFA’s 211 member associations for their support and promised he would ‘not stand still’ but would continue to develop the game and ‘defend football’.

His priorities would be the creation of more youth competitions, a continued push on women’s football, more investment in technology and the organisation of a ‘world convention on football development’.