#pessi #messi #meme #argentina #worldcup was born in Brig-Glis, in the canton of Valais, Switzerland . [ 2 ] [ 3 ] His parents are Italian : his father is from Reggio di Calabria and his mother from Val Camonica . [ 4 ] After moving to Switzerland , his father worked for the railway and his mother ran a kiosk . [ 5 ] He graduated from the University of Fribourg . [ 6 ] Career He first worked as Secretary General at the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES) at the University of Neuchâtel [ 7 ] . UEFA In August 2000, he began working with UEFA . In January 2004, he was appointed Director of UEFA's Legal and Club Licensing Department. He has also served as a member of numerous organisations and as an advisor to European leagues and football associations. On 1 February 2007, he replaced Lars-Christer Olsson as UEFA's Executive Director . On 29 May 2007, at the UEFA Congress in Zurich, the position was replaced by that of General Secretary, and on 1 June 2007, he was replaced by David Taylor , whom he replaced in that position on 1 October 2009. [ 7 ] His first major task was to resolve the scandal in 2009, when matches in European cups were fixed by gangs involved in buying football matches . [ 8 ] On 7 February 2010, he participated in the draw for the qualifying groups of the 2012 European Championship in Warsaw . During his term in May 2010, the UEFA Financial Fair Play principle was introduced and commercial support for smaller national associations was improved . [ 9 ] [ 7 ] On 2 December 2011 in Kyiv, he led the draw ceremony for the 2012 European Championship in Poland and Ukraine . He also played a key role in the process of expanding the 2016 European Championship in France to 24 teams and in the concept of creating the Nations League and organizing the 2020 European Championship in 12 European cities (ultimately played in 11 cities) [ 10 ] [ 11 ] . In 2015, the Greek government decided to introduce a new sports law in response to recent scandals and acts of violence and corruption – primarily in Greek football . Infantino led negotiations with the Greek government at the time and supported the Hellenic Football Federation's warning that it faced suspension from international football due to government interference . [ 12 ] In 2016, he was succeeded as UEFA General Secretary by Greek Theodore Theodoridis - @skibidi.sigma.ohio0