FIFA Presidents

List of FIFA Presidents 1904 to 2026

The current FIFA president is Swiss-Italian dual national Gianni Infantino, who was first elected on 26 February 2016 and has since been re-elected unopposed in 2019 and 2023. Infantino is the ninth elected president in FIFA's history and oversaw the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada, the first edition to feature 48 teams. His bid for a fourth term has since run into serious opposition, with UEFA and other confederations threatening to boycott FIFA competitions over a controversial World Cup investment plan.

FIFA was founded in Paris on 21 May 1904, and its first president was Frenchman Robert Guerin. Since then, the role has been held by men from France, England, Belgium, Brazil and Switzerland. This page lists every past FIFA president in order, together with the acting presidents who held the office on a temporary basis, and answers the most common questions about the position.

FIFA Presidents in Order

No.	President	Nationality	Took Office	Left Office	Years in Office	Born	Died
1	Robert Guerin	French	1904	1906	2	1876	1952
2	Daniel Burley Woolfall	British	1906	1918	12	15 June 1852	24 October 1918
3	Jules Rimet	French	1921	1954	33	14 October 1873	16 October 1956
4	Rodolphe Seeldrayers	Belgian	1954	1955	1	16 December 1876	7 October 1955
5	Arthur Drewry	British	1955	1961	6	3 March 1891	25 March 1961
6	Stanley Rous	British	1961	1974	13	25 April 1895	18 July 1986
7	Joao Havelange	Brazilian	1974	1998	24	8 May 1916	16 August 2016
8	Sepp Blatter	Swiss	1998	2015	17	10 March 1936	–
9	Gianni Infantino	Swiss-Italian	2016	Incumbent	10	23 March 1970	–

Acting FIFA Presidents

On four occasions the presidency has been held on an interim basis, usually following a death or resignation. Arthur Drewry served as acting president from 1955 before being formally elected in 1956, while the three men below held the role temporarily without going on to win an election of their own.

Acting President	Nationality	Period	Reason
Cornelis Hirschman	Dutch	1918 to 1921	Death of Daniel Burley Woolfall
Ernst Thommen	Swiss	1961	Death of Arthur Drewry
Issa Hayatou	Cameroonian	October 2015 to February 2016	Suspension of Sepp Blatter

Gianni Infantino, the Current FIFA President

Gianni Infantino won the presidency at an extraordinary FIFA Congress in Zurich on 26 February 2016, defeating Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, Sheikh Salman and Jerome Champagne after a second ballot. The vote followed the resignation of Sepp Blatter, who had won a fifth term in May 2015 before stepping down amid the corruption crisis that engulfed FIFA that summer.

Infantino was re-elected by acclamation at the 2019 Congress in Paris and again at the 2023 Congress in Kigali, giving him a mandate through to 2027. On 30 April 2026, at the 76th FIFA Congress in Vancouver, he confirmed he will stand for a fourth term at the 77th FIFA Congress, due to be held in Rabat, Morocco on 18 March 2027. Under his leadership, the World Cup has expanded to 48 teams and 104 matches, a format making its debut at the 2026 tournament. You can follow every result from the finals on our World Cup 2026 fixtures and stats page.

FIFA Presidency Under Pressure: the World Cup Investment Row

What had looked like a formality is now in genuine doubt. In July 2026, FIFA put forward a plan known internally as FIFA Forward Enterprise, under which the governing body would sell a minority stake in the World Cup and its other competitions to outside investors to help fund development programmes. The proposal provoked an immediate backlash. On 30 July 2026, UEFA's 55 member associations held an emergency meeting and voted unanimously to reject the plan, pledging to boycott every FIFA competition, including the men's and women's World Cups, for as long as it remained on the table. Later the same day, the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football and the Asian Football Confederation announced they were rejecting the proposal too. FIFA responded by insisting the plan was a proposal rather than an obligation and that consultation with its member associations would continue.

The row has fed directly into scrutiny of Infantino's fourth term bid. Germany's football association declined to sign a letter of endorsement in July 2026, La Liga president Javier Tebas publicly called for him to step down, and on 3 August 2026 the Football Association of Wales became the first national association to withhold support for his re-election. Despite the turbulence, Infantino remains the only declared candidate heading into the 18 March 2027 vote in Rabat.

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Longest Serving FIFA Presidents

Jules Rimet remains the longest serving FIFA president, holding office for 33 years between 1921 and 1954. Rimet founded the World Cup, with the first tournament staged in Uruguay in 1930, and the original trophy was named in his honour. Joao Havelange of Brazil is second on the list with 24 years in charge, followed by Sepp Blatter with 17. Should Infantino win a fourth term in March 2027 and complete it, he would reach 15 years in office, moving ahead of Stanley Rous and Daniel Burley Woolfall into fourth place, though the World Cup investment row means that outcome is no longer the formality it once looked.

For the full history of the tournament each president has overseen, see our World Cup by year section and the complete FIFA All-Time World Cup records hub.

FIFA Presidents FAQs

Here are quick answers to the most common questions about the FIFA presidency.