LOS ANGELES — Gianni Infantino was reelected to another four-year term as FIFA president last month, running unopposed and winning by acclaim. That means no formal vote was taken, saving Infantino the embarrassment of failing to win unanimously in a race no one else was contesting.
Lise Klaveness, president of the Norwegian soccer federation, publicly said she would not back Infantino. But while Klaveness, discouraged by Infantino's craven ignorance of the human rights issues surrounding last year's World Cup in Qatar, was prepared to vote with her conscience, most of the other delegates at the FIFA Congress voted with their pocketbooks.
FIFA's 211 member federations have seen their annual funding from world soccer's governing body rise from $250,000 to $2 million since Infantino first took office in 2016. The Qatar World Cup left FIFA with $4 billion in reserves, and Infantino is forecasting revenue of at least $11 billion through the next World Cup in North America in 2026.
