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FIFA corruption scandal

Russian sports minister: Infantino fully changed FIFA, it now works with more confidence

A session of the FIFA Executive Committee was held in Zurich, Switzerland, on Thursday

Gianni Infantino EPA/PATRICK B. KRAEMER

Gianni Infantino

© EPA/PATRICK B. KRAEMER

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World’s newly-elected football chief Infantino pledges to reinstate global trust in FIFA

MOSCOW, March 17./TASS/. FIFA’s activity has changed under the leadership of Swiss Gianni Infantino, it is now working increasingly confidently, Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said on Thursday.

"Anxiety was felt at the previous session [on the budget], but now we see an increase in its revenue," he explained. Mutko said Infantino had new relations with the sponsors, and FIFA was working at a new pace, and now different political reforms in its structure and strategy were on the agenda.

A session of the FIFA Executive Committee was held in Zurich, Switzerland, on Thursday. It will continue on Friday.

FIFA corruption scandal

"A lot of interesting issues were considered. In particular, the FIFA president spoke about the work he had already done, about the structure of the organization, its prospects and priorities, offering some changes to the budget," Mutko said.

Mutko also said the timetable of the 2018 FIFA World Cup matches had been approved at the session.

UEFA Secretary General Infantino, 45, was elected on February 26 as the new president of FIFA following the second round of voting, where he received the majority of votes from 207 eligible members associations. The Russian Football Union backed the candidacy of Infantino, who repeatedly defended Russia’s right to host the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The matches of the 2018 World Cup will be held between June 14 and July 15 at 12 stadiums located in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, Saransk, Kaliningrad, Volgograd, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Yekaterinburg and Samara.

Russia won the bid to host the 2018 World Cup at the FIFA Congress in Guatemala on December 4, 2010 in a tight race against the bid from England, the joint bid from Portugal and Spain and the joint bid on behalf of Belgium and the Netherlands.

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