Gianni Infantino was on Wednesday re-elected by acclamation for a second term as FIFA president at the Congress of world football’s governing body in Paris.
The 49-year-old, who took charge of FIFA in February 2016 after the departure of the disgraced Sepp Blatter, stood unopposed for a new four-year term which will run until 2023.
Earlier, Infantino had insisted that FIFA had been transformed into an organisation “synonymous with credibility” as he addressed representatives of the 211 member federations, before the Women’s World Cup begins in the French capital on Friday.
“Today nobody talks about crises, nobody talks about rebuilding FIFA from scratch, nobody talks about scandals, nobody talks about corruption, we talk about football,” insisted the Swiss-Italian lawyer, formerly secretary general of UEFA.
“The very least we can say is that we have turned the situation around.
“In three years and four months, this organisation went from being toxic, almost criminal, to being what it should be, an organisation that develops football, an organisation that cares about football,” he said.
Meanwhile, former Real Madrid coach Julen Lopetegui is back in management at Sevilla, penning a three-year deal with the Liga outfit.
The 52-year-old has been out of work since October 2018 when an ill-fated spell at the Santiago Bernabeu came to a close.
Lopetegui had only been appointed by the Blancos in controversial circumstances over the summer leading into the 2018-19 campaign.
A deal was struck while he was still in charge of the Spain national side, with his contract there torn up ahead of the World Cup finals in Russia.
He was charged with the task of succeeding Zinedine Zidane in Madrid, but struggled to make any kind of impact and was relieved of his duties on the back of a 5-1 Clasico defeat to Barcelona.
A painful period of reflection has been taken in since leaving the Bernabeu, but Lopetegui has now returned to coaching.
He has only previously filled three senior club positions and two of those have been short-lived stints in La Liga.
