FIFA President Gianni Infantino [Photo|FIFA]

FIFA president Gianni Infantino says world soccer governing body is now free from scandals or corruption since he took over as the leader of the organization.

Gianni Infantino was speaking after being re-elected to run world soccer governing body Fifa for another four years on Wednesday.

The Swiss-Italian, 49, succeeded Sepp Blatter in 2016 and since his assumption of office he over saw the increase in number for teams that will participate at the 2026 World Cup and proposed key changes to the Club World Cup.

Infantino’s re-election was marked by a round of applause, after rules were changed earlier in the day to no longer require a vote from Fifa’s 211 members if only one candidate was standing.

In a lengthy speech at the congress, Infantino focused on the relative calm of his first term in charge compared to the situation he inherited.

“Nobody talks about crisis at Fifa any more or rebuilding it from scratch,” he said.

“Nobody talks about scandals or corruption, we talk about football. We can say that we’ve turned the situation around.”

“This organization has gone from being toxic, almost criminal, to being what it should be – an organisation that develops football and is now synonymous with transparency, integrity.”

Former Uefa secretary general Infantino was behind the expansion of the World Cup from 32 teams to 48 for the 2026 tournament, which will be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Plans to bring the expansion forward to the 2022 World Cup were however abandoned last month.