Gianni Infantino, the controversial and colorful president of global soccer governing body FIFA, has announced his intention to run for a fourth term.

Infantino revealed his intentions at this week’s FIFA Congress in Vancouver, Canada, as he enters the final 12 months of his current four-year mandate.

The Swiss-Italian’s current term runs through 2027, having been re-elected unopposed back at the FIFA congress in March 2023, meaning he would stay in the role through 2031.

This upcoming election will take place on March 18, 2027, in Morocco.

He was first elected in an Extraordinary Congress in 2016 following the resignation of his predecessor Sepp Blatter, and retained the role in 2019 after standing unopposed for re-election.

While FIFA statutes currently limit a president to a maximum of three four-year terms, Infantino declared that his first three years at the helm do not count as a full term due to taking over from Blatter.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) regional bodies have already put their support behind Infantino’s re-election campaign.

Infantino has courted controversy throughout his term as FIFA president.

In the run-up to the 2022 men’s FIFA World Cup, he irked several nations after staunchly defending Qatar’s treatment of migrant workers, women, and the LGBTQ community. Several European countries, including Germany, Norway, and Sweden, said they would not actively support him.

More recently, he has endeavored to establish close ties with US president Donald Trump and his equally controversial administration.

Despite this, he has many supporters who credit him with growing the financial state of FIFA markedly during his tenure, through endeavors such as the revamped Club World Cup.

Looking back on Infantino’s leadership thus far, GlobalData Sport lead analyst Conrad Wiacek commented: “While it is undisputable that Infantino has overseen the commercial growth of FIFA with World Cup sponsorship now at a record high, new revenue streams such as the FIFA Club World Cup developed as well developing new commercial programs such as the city level sponsorships which will be in place for the first time at this years upcoming World Cup, the counter argument is that Infantino has been in the right place at the right time to oversee this.

“As mega events and top-tier sporting leagues and series grow ever richer due to their increasing popularity and stranglehold on media rights revenues, which in turn gives them the largest platforms, it could be argued that by virtue of having the platform with one of the largest global audiences, had FIFA not been able to capitalize commercially, it would have been a dereliction of duty by Infantino.

“What is without question is that Infantino has managed to keep FIFA at the forefront of the conversation in an era where club football is arguably more dominant. As a result, Infantino has kept revenues coming in an era where FIFA could have lost out, making his re-election a distinct possibility."