Fifa boss has goal to visit NZ

Gianni Infantino likely to attend the Oceania Football Confederation congress in May

The most powerful man in world football is coming to New Zealand. Fifa president Gianni Infantino, who has headed up the Swiss-based organisation since 2016, will visit the country in early May.

Details of his trip have been kept under wraps, but it is believed that Infantino will attend the Oceania Football Confederation congress which is scheduled for May 8 and 9.

It’s also understood that a meeting with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern could be arranged if respective schedules allow.

NZF’s potential bid to host the 2023 Women’s World Cup could also be a topic on the agenda during his visit.

Fifa made an estimated US$6.1 billion ($8.92b) in revenue from last year’s World Cup in Russia and had cash reserves of almost $US1.7b ($2.49b) at the end of last year.

Fifa represents 211 national football associations, more than any other sports organisation in the world, and even exceeding the number of member nations at the United Nations (193).

Infantino was elected in February 2016, ahead of a large field of contenders, after long-serving former president Sepp Blatter was ejected from his post in December 2015, following a series of scandals.

Infantino is only the ninth man in history to hold the coveted position of Fifa president, since Frenchman Robert Guerin first took office in 1904.

He promised to reform Fifa, and has made some positive steps in that area, with attempts to increase transparency of the notoriously secretive organisation and clean up the World Cup bidding process, which was racked by controversy during most of Blatter’s 18-year tenure.

The Swiss-Italian national has also been the main driver behind the expanded 48-team World Cup from 2026.

He will be elected unopposed for a second term in June at the Fifa congress, after it was confirmed that no candidate will be standing against him.

The 48 year old was previously general secretary of Uefa for almost a decade and first started working at the European organisation in 2000.

Appearances by the head of Fifa have been rare in this country down the years. Blatter made a couple of stops during his long reign, but cancelled a scheduled appearance for the 2015 Under-20 World Cup as he was knee deep in fighting off scandals at the time.

The OFC Congressis the first congress since the turbulent events of last year, when ex-president (and Fifa vice-president) David Chung resigned, along with former general secretary Tai Nicholas.

Chung was expected to face a vote of no confidence at the time of his departure.

Both men were linked to an investigation into allegations of fraud around the construction of a new OFC headquarters in East Auckland, which was the subject of an audit by Fifa and later an internal investigation by OFC.