FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s choice to hitch Donald Trump’s Gulf tour has been criticised by European soccer’s governing physique after he arrived late for the most important annual gathering of the worldwide recreation.
Not solely did Mr Infantino miss key FIFA occasions, together with an official dinner in Paraguay, however the begin of the FIFA Congress was delayed by hours on Thursday.
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Mr Infantino arrives for a state dinner hosted by Qatar’s emir. Pic: AP
Mr Infantino was late after flying in from Doha after attending a state dinner held by the emir of Qatar to mark Mr Trump’s go to. The soccer boss had beforehand been in Saudi Arabia with Mr Trump and hung out with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
After flying into Paraguay on a Qatar Airways non-public jet, Mr Infantino did open his delayed handle to the FIFA Congress by “presenting my apologies for the inconvenience for having to move the Congress kick-off time”.
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Mr Infantino on the finish of FIFA’s seventy fifth Congress. Pic: AP
However that aggravated UEFA, who issued an unprecedented public rebuke after tensions with Mr Infantino had thawed lately.
“The FIFA Congress is one of the most important meetings in world football, where all the 211 nations in the world’s game gather to discuss issues that affect the sport right across the world.
“Our hosts, the Paraguay FA and our companions at CONMEBOL, had gone to appreciable effort to accommodate so many delegates and we thank them for his or her hospitality.
“But to have the timetable changed at the last minute for what appears to be simply to accommodate private political interests, does the game no service and appears to put its interests second.
“We’re all in put up to serve soccer; from the streets to the rostrum, and UEFA members of the FIFA Council felt the necessity on this event to make a degree that the sport comes first and to depart as initially scheduled.”
Mr Infantino justified his journey by pointing to the US being the primary host of the 2026 males’s World Cup and Saudi Arabia staging the occasion in 2034.
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He informed delegates on the FIFA Congress in Asuncion: “Obviously some important discussions took place there with regards to the World Cup with some world leaders in politics and economy and I felt like I had to be there to represent all of you, to represent football, I thought I could make it on time but unfortunately we had a little issue with our flight, which caused this delay.”
