Gianni Infantino has been re-elected president of FIFA until 2027, the governing body have confirmed.

The Swiss national first took the role in 2016 before being re-elected in 2019, and he has again been named as president after running unopposed this year.

“Being President of FIFA is an incredible honour, an incredible privilege,” Infantino said. “It is also a great, great responsibility.

“I’m truly humbled and touched by your support. I promise you I will continue serving FIFA, serving football all over the world, serving all 211 member associations of FIFA.”

FIFA rules state that a president can serve a maximum of three four-year terms. While this will be Infantino’s third stint in office, the 52-year-old is looking to stay on until 2031 after arguing that his first spell, after replacing Sepp Blatter in 2016, did not count as a full term.

The Governance, Audit and Compliance Committee have also accepted that Infantino’s first three years were not an official term in charge of FIFA, freeing him up to run for the position once again in 2027.

The daughter of the late Pele has revealed that the footballing legend wanted bitter rivals Argentina to win the 2022 World Cup for Lionel Messi after Brazil’s elimination.

After a battle with cancer, Pele passed away at the age of 82 on December 29 2022, 11 days after the World Cup final.

He spent much of the tournament in Qatar in palliative care and surrounded by family.

Pele’s beloved Brazil were eliminated at the quarter-final stage by Croatia on penalties, missing out on a South American showdown with Argentina.

His daughter, Kely Nascimento, shared a story about her father on Instagram after bumping into Messi’s wife, Antonela Roccuzzo.

Nascimento wrote: “Story time: This is the very beautiful and graceful Antonela Roccuzzo, Messi’s wife.

“I didn’t have the opportunity to meet Messi so when I met her in that magical place of every party (the ladies’ room) I passed him a message through her.

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“By the time Brazil lost against Croatia my dad was getting a lot worse. Everybody wanted Brazil to win this cup for my dad, nobody more than the national team!

“But my father understood better than most what football is like. And it was really this possibility that any team could win that he always talked about that he loved about this beautiful game.

“After the defeat of Brazil every person who entered that hospital room (all day and every day until the final!!!) said: “Hey Pele? Now who do you want? Of course Argentina NO!

“And he would say “Argentina yes! This cup has to stay in South America and Messi deserves it!

“Everyone was pretending (and sometimes not pretending) horror!!! HOW?! Argentina!!!?

“And he would simply say ‘yes, Messi deserves it’.

“He wasn’t getting to watch TV in the final anymore, but he understood that Argentina won and Messi got to lift the cup, and he was happy.

“Long live football.”

Chelsea and Brazil centre-back Thiago Silva has questioned how Julian Alvarez secured a seventh-place finish at FIFA’s The Best awards recently.

Alvarez impressed with Argentina as La Albiceleste won the World Cup during the winter but has struggled for minutes since joining Manchester City in the summer, starting just six Premier League games as he competes with Erling Haaland.

Despite that, Alvarez still managed to rack up enough points to finish seventh in the award rankings, beating the likes of Neymar, Kevin De Bruyne, Vinicius Junior and Robert Lewandowski.

Only Sadio Mane, Haaland, Luka Modric, Karim Benzema, Kylian Mbappe and eventual winner Lionel Messi picked up more votes than Alvarez.

The Man City striker’s place on the list has attracted plenty of criticism from fans who argued that the impact of the World Cup played too much of a role in deciding the final rankings, and it seems as though Silva agrees.

“It’s a joke,” Silva wrote on Instagram in response to a post which questioned Alvarez’s final standing.

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The award was partly voted for by fans, with Alvarez picking up the third most votes among supporters, behind only Mbappe and Messi.

Nine of his 15 points came from the fan vote, although the City striker still managed to pick up six from the rest of the voting, which was conducted by coaches, captains and journalists from countries across the world.

Silva himself voted for international teammate Neymar to win the award, with Messi second and Benzema in third.