FIFA Congress shows Gianni Infantino likely destined to lead world soccer again, before campaign even starts

Infantino is running for what would be his final term as FIFA president, with the election slated for the next edition of the FIFA Congress on March 18 in Rabat, Morocco

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – At the very end of a week of pomp, circumstance and meetings, Gianni Infantino made an attempt at being understated to close out the FIFA Congress. In one sentence and with little preamble, he confirmed he would run for re-election for what would be his final term in the role, allowed for some mild fanfare, and then returned to the final items of business at the end of a busy week.

The subdued nature of Infantino's announcement, though, comes down to the element of surprise, or lack thereof. There was not a single person in FIFA's orbit this week who did not see this news coming, in large part because Infantino had won the endorsement of three different confederations – CONMEBOL, CAF and AFC – before Thursday's announcement, more than enough to warrant a place on the ballot at next year's congress on March 18 in Rabat, Morocco. A week's worth of activities in Vancouver, though, offered a perfect platform for an all-encompasing soft launch of his latest candidacy and what the upper echelons of the world's most popular spot look like a decade after a scandal that has yet to truly fade into a memory.

Clouds of controversy always loom large at FIFA events and in every room Infantino enters, but as he mounts another presidential bid, it seems to be a feature many of the sport's relevant figures have accepted rather than a bug they will complain about.

Infantino's unofficial campaign speech

His annual remarks earlier in the day, after all, were the campaign speech he had no need to make with the formal announcement. He said he did not want to speak of the past as he remarked on the fact that he has been in the job for a decade, but the 2015 corruption scandal that even afforded him a shot at soccer's highest role is his origin story, one he does not particularly shy away from. It was the source of his first unhumble brag, too, a snapshot of one of the weirdest developments a decade after the U.S. Department of Justice came for FIFA.

"The Department of Justice of the United States of America, I want to repeat this, gave us back $201 million to us, to Concacaf and to CONMEBOL," he said, beginning to gloat after opening his speech with his typical tone. "$201 million that they seized from corrupt previous officials. When does this ever happen in the world of business? But it happened with the new FIFA."

The scents of niceties, agreeability, backscratching, pandering and unabashed overpraising were hard to miss. He attributed "the new FIFA" to "you," or the representatives of all but one of FIFA's 211 member delegations who were seated in the Vancouver Convention Centre and will each have a vote in March's presidential election. In an industry where the word "magic" is usually reserved for the star athletes who command our attention with their skillful play, Infantino said "the universal language of football is that language that brings us together, and that makes this magic happen." The magic in question was about what "the new FIFA" is – a vessel for the president to see and be seen, filling out his Instagram grid at the same rate as an influencer eager to build a following.

"Today, FIFA has definitely become a respected, a trusted, a global – a truly global – organization," he said before getting to the point, "sitting at the top tables in every aspect, from United Nations agencies to governments to the top business circles."

It is an ambitious vision for FIFA, so ambitious that Infantino has been accused of spending too much time with U.S. President Donald Trump to the point that he was hours late to last year's congress in Asuncion, Paraguay because he made the long trek to South America from the Middle East. His unvarnished and reckless ambition was on display again in Vancouver on Thursday in a futile attempt to play peacemaker between members of Israel and Palestine's soccer federations, one that blew back in his face. Infantino may have an impressive number of stamps on his passport and exposure to important people in most pockets of the world, but it was easy to predict this would not go well. The war in the region has resulted in a genuine sporting dispute, Palestine's complaint that Israel is operating clubs inside the Palestinian territories enough to warrant a FIFA investigation, and a recommendation from UN experts that Israel should be suspended.

FIFA's decision to fine Israel around $200,000 without other punishment was always going to be met coldly by Palestine's delegates, to the point that federation president Jibril Rajoub refused to shake hands with Israel Football Association vice president Basim Sheikh Suliman despite Infantino and company envisioning a perfect photo opportunity. Then again, the world Infantino tries to create always feels like it clashes with the reality on the ground, especially since his attempt to become a pseudo-diplomat remains defined by the creation of the FIFA Peace Prize, an eyesore that remains the butt of an avalanche of jokes several months after Trump won it at the World Cup draw in Washington, D.C.

It does not seem to rattle Infantino all that much, perhaps because he is likely to live another such moment in his efforts to maintain his seat at all of the world's top tables.

A culture of leader worship

Roughly 24 hours before Infantino unsuccessfully played the role of diplomat in a windowless hall, he was clad head-to-toe in FIFA blue on a perfect spring afternoon. He assumed his starting position on a pitch at the University of British Columbia for the latest edition of a semi-regular legends tournament, taking the spot in front of the center circle that usually goes to a center forward. The goalscoring prowess was never on display – he exited the game after a few short minutes, though he did return for a subsequent match for an unspectacular display in midfield, his footwork clearly lacking compared to the retired professionals in his midst.

At an event where Infantino called two-time World Cup winner Cafu a colleague on Team FIFA and awarded Olympic gold medalist Stephanie Labbe a new medal for winning the legends tournament with Team Canada, no one had more people flock to them than the FIFA president. As he exited Team FIFA's first match – a 1-1 draw with Team CAF – onlookers passed their phones to those around them as they posed next to Infantino for a picture, others doing the work themselves with a selfie.

For the blunders and cringe factor that Infantino carries, even a brief and restricted visit inside the orbit reveals that he has a long list of people who are ready to praise him – and who will likely ensure he wins another four-year term at FIFA's helm with little issue. If Infantino has the unanimous support CONMEBOL, AFC and CAF pledged before he officially announced his candidacy, he would have 111 votes and a simple majority and enough to beat a theoretical challenger.

Infantino, though, has run unopposed since he officially took over from disgraced ex-FIFA president Sepp Blatter, and the endorsements he already boasts might be enough to keep an opponent at bay. His speech on Thursday correlated with the support he had already won on the grounds of geography alone.

"If you look at the global football [gross domestic product], it is around $300 billion," he said. "Now, what is interesting in that is that 70% of this $300 billion are generated in Europe. Congratulations to Europe. That's fantastic, but this means as well that if the rest of the world does 50% of what Europe does, we can go to $500 billion global football GDP, half a trillion global football GDP, making everyone from Europe to South America to North America to Africa to Asia to Oceania generate more revenues and more income."

Not dissimilar to Blatter, Infantino's most reliable voters are outside of Europe. He promised them a 20% increase in funds to $2.7 billion for FIFA Forward, a development program that helps to fund federations' youth operations. His expansion of the men's and women's World Cups has been celebrated by national teams outside of the old continent, while CONMEBOL's hopes of a 64-team men's World Cup in 2030 is still a talking point. Concacaf – led by FIFA vice president Victor Montagliani, who paid his compliments to Infantino with a speech on Thursday – has not formally endorsed anyone, but representatives of the Haitian Football Federation were full of praise for Infantino and seem likely to cast a vote in his favor next winter. Make that 112 votes in his favor.

It is perhaps why Infantino can keep World Cup prices controversially high and justify the decision, no matter the burdensome legacy it seems destined to leave behind in a continent that has yet to fully embrace soccer.

"There have been many discussions about the ticketing of the World Cup," he said during his speech. "We had 500 million ticket requests – 500 million ticket requests. In the last two World Cups together, we had 50 million ticket requests. Here, 500 million. We sold 100% of the inventory we put on the market, which is more or less 90% of the global inventory so far, and of course, we are always putting tickets on the market. They are expensive tickets, yes, but there are also affordable tickets, and what is important is that all the revenues that we generate from the World Cup go back to you, go back to the entire world and finance football in all of your countries."

Even Rajoub, the Palestine federation president who made impassioned comments to Infantino's face as he refused to shake hands with Israeli executive Suliman, was not interested in criticizing the FIFA president who arranged for that exchange.

"I respect Gianni and I respect FIFA and you know he is trying," Rajoub said. "This is his mission. He is the chief of everybody, and he has the right to try."

FIFA's anonymous ballot could always empower the 211 member nations to nominate an opponent and then elect a new president, or at the very least enable an actual election for the first time in a decade.

"The 211 member associations have the choice to nominate candidates, and it's not up to me to put words in their mouths," FIFA secretary general Mattias Grafstrom said on the prospect of another unopposed election. "Up to them to decide how it will look in some months. The electoral period has just started, so we'll see what happens."

There may not be much to see here, the habits of existing in and around "the new FIFA" creating a new status quo that feels alien to an outsider but is somehow almost unsurprising all at the same time.