FIFA president Gianni Infantino cleared of possible ethics violations

An investigation into possible breaches of ethics by FIFA president Gianni Infantino has been dropped by the governing body's ethics committee.

It has been alleged that Infantino, who was elected as Sepp Blatter's successor in February, took flights from the governments of World Cup hosts Russia and Qatar.

The investigation also looked into the hiring of Infantino's senior advisers and his refusal to sign a working contract.

A statement from the ethics committee confirmed that it had found that "no violation of the FIFA Code of Ethics (FCE) had been committed by Mr Infantino".

The committee specifically focused on general rules of conflict, loyalty, conflicts of interest and offering and accepting gifts.

In the lengthy statement, the ruling said: "During the formal investigation proceedings, led by Vanessa Allard - member of the investigatory chamber - the materials related to the prima facie cases identified during the preliminary investigations were assessed.

"After examining all relevant evidence thoroughly, Ms Allard concluded that the occurrences related to the flights taken by Mr Infantino did not represent FCE violations. In particular, no relevant situations involving conflicts of interest related to Mr Infantino's position as FIFA President were identified, and the benefits enjoyed by Mr Infantino were not considered improper in the light of applicable FIFA rules and regulations.

"Moreover, Ms Allard found that the human resources matters, as well as Mr. Infantino's conduct with regard to his contract with FIFA, if at all, constituted internal compliance issues rather than an ethical matter. As such, the final report prepared by Ms Allard concluded that no ethical breaches had been committed by Mr Infantino."

Before taking on the FIFA role, Infantino worked as UEFA general secretary.