FIFA: Gianni Infantino set for fourth election in 2027 despite three-term limit

"I want to tell you first - the 211 (FIFA) member associations - that I will be a candidate in the FIFA presidential election next year," Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA, said at the conclusion of the 76^th FIFA Congress in Vancouver (Canada), on 30/04/2026.

Elected on 26/02/2016, and subsequently re-elected by acclamation on 05/06/2019 and 16/03/2023, Gianni Infantino, who holds Swiss, Italian and Lebanese citizenship, will stand again for the FIFA presidency for the 2027-2031 term.

Yet FIFA statutes provide for a limit of three terms (consecutive or not). "The president shall be elected by the Congress for a period of four years in the year following a World Cup. The term of office shall begin after the end of the Congress at which the president was elected. No person may serve as president for more than three terms of office (whether consecutive or not)," according to Article 33, paragraph 2 of the statutes adopted on 17/05/2024.

However, Gianni Infantino had already stated in December 2022 (towards the end of his 2019-2023 term) that he was "still in his first term," as the…