Fifa President Gianni Infantino doesn’t do press conferences often – this was his first since Auckland, New Zealand in 2023 before the Women’s World Cup. But when he does speak, they’re generally worth listening to. Who can forget “Today I feel gay” in Doha in 2022?
But with deep concerns over visa issues, Iran’s freedom of movement in and out of the US, Infantino’s choice to politically align with Donald Trump and umpteen other things ahead of the World Cup, this one was always going to be fun.
Here are the choice parts of the Infantino press conference.
‘I would ask you to really focus on football’
Ah, this again. We have heard it from Infantino and others before. So here’s the thing: we will focus on what matters to people. Some only care about football, others don’t care about football at all. Others care about the football and about the geopolitical ramifications.
And we will cater for all of those people. When the leader of any organisation tells you what you should focus on, it usually means that they want to distract you from the rest.
‘Would you find it normal that Fifa would dictate to the British government who to let in the country?’
Well if the British government decided to ban people from the country, or stopped one of the competing nations staying in the country overnight, we’d consider that a gross indecency.
And so would you. Because here’s what you said in 2017: “Teams who qualify for a World Cup have to have access to the country, otherwise there is no World Cup. The requirements will be clear. And then each country can make up their decisions, whether they want to bid or not based on the requirements.”
‘Three topics have come up all the time – Iran, tickets and visas… a lot to do with our host countries, with the world and the way it is’
Which yes, is undoubtedly true (apart from the tickets bit). But not only did you say that free movement was a non-negotiable for any host country, you have also aligned yourself emphatically with Donald Trump over the last two years.
Infantino’s relationship with Trump has unleashed chaos (Photo: AP)It’s that backing – saying he’s doing a good job, giving him a new Fifa Peace Prize, moving a Fifa office into Trump Tower in Manhattan – that makes it impossible to separate the issues of the country and of Fifa.
‘It’s unfortunate what happened to referee – it’s good to chill and relax’
Just a very normal thing to say. Someone give Omar Artan – the Somalian referee not allowed to enter the US – a call, having missed out on the biggest weeks of his career, and tell him that the best advice you have is for him to chill and relax.
‘I promised Iran they will come – if I have to go on a bus to Tehran and drive them here I will do that’
Infantino spent a fair amount of time focusing on self-congratulation on the Iran issue. And yes, they will play in the World Cup despite Trump telling them that they would not be welcome.
But official travelling Iranian fans have reportedly had their trips cancelled. There were long delays with the visas for the squad and coaching staff and they will reportedly have to fly in and out of the US on the day of their games, forced to move their training camp to Tijuana, Mexico.
That is not cause for celebration, congratulation and pithy jokes. It is a cause for shame and embarrassment.
‘Cheaper tickets would have been sold on the black market’
Firstly, there is already a secondary market and Fifa is running it (and making profit on it). The resale platform charges a processing percentage on both the buyer and seller of the tickets.
Secondly, this is a feeble excuse for having high prices and using dynamic pricing systems. Any organisation that wanted to could impose a system whereby tickets were non-transferrable (other than being sold back to Fifa at face value for resale) and holders needed to use photo ID to gain stadium access. That would have killed any “black market”.
“There are always tickets on sale as you know…the demand has been unprecedented by a factor of ten or more.”
This is at least great to know, even if the phrasing sounds distinctly Trumpian. It means that there will not be empty seats at any World Cup match.
Because if there are, one of two things has happened: 1) Infantino is wrong about the demand 2) the sales process has been so badly mismanaged and the pricing so miscalculated that 10x the demand of any other World Cup has still not led to enough people filling seats.
‘Promote the unity of the World Cup’
The World Cup is magnificent. For those of us who adore football, it remains the pinnacle and it excites in a way that nothing has. The issue lies not with the World Cup and the unity it provokes. It’s with those who are supposed to be responsible for maintaining that unity and who have let us down.
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