FIFA president Gianni Infantino should account for his trip alongside US President Donald Trump to the Gulf this week and “detail precisely what it achieved for football and human rights,” a leading critic of FIFA’s governance said.
Human Rights Watch said that Infantino’s trip, in which he accompanied the US president to Qatar and Saudi Arabia and missed a series of key meetings at FIFA’s annual congress, was indicative of the lack of “meaningful accountability” at the top of soccer’s global authority.
European delegates walked out of the congress in Paraguay on Thursday in protest at the FIFA president’s late arrival, with UEFA saying “private political interests” had driven Infantino’s decision to prioritize the Gulf trip.
Photo: AFP
Human Rights Watch director of global initiatives Minky Worden said the organization “calls for Gianni Infantino to account for his trip to the Gulf and detail precisely what it achieved for football and human rights.”
“FIFA have no meaningful systems of accountability. This is the main reason why FIFA has lost its social license,” Worden said.
“Infantino claimed these were vital meetings with Trump and Gulf leaders, but why would that take priority over the congress, the only annual opportunity for national associations to feed into football governance? The fact he couldn’t be bothered to show up shows a papal conclave has more accountability than a congress,” she said.
UEFA did not expand on its statement following the walkout.
“The point was made,” a source said.
However, there remains anger within European soccer’s governing body, with executives saying Infantino is following Trump “like a puppy” and his treatment of the congress is “disrespectful and arrogant.” One senior UEFA official on condition of anonymity said: “The guy has lost it.”
Some senior UEFA officials have said that Infantino’s actions might jeopardize his chances of securing a fourth term in the FIFA election in 2027, although his position is shored up by a significant level of global backing.
CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani told reporters he did not support the walkout.
“Two wrongs don’t make a right,” he said.
CONCACAF oversees soccer in North and Central America and the Caribbean.
South American soccer confederation CONMEBOL on Friday said it was to name a new extension to its hotel complex in the Paraguayan capital, Asuncion, the Infantino tower.
A FIFA meeting scheduled for Miami, Florida, next month, the same month as the controversial FIFA Club World Cup is to kick off in the US state, could be the next flashpoint, with some European nations saying they are working on how to drive forward the issue of governance within FIFA by then.
Infantino at the conference apologized on stage for his absence several times and said it was important he represented soccer at the meetings.
“As president of FIFA, my responsibility is to make decisions in the interests of the organization,” Infantino said. “I felt that I needed to be there to represent football and all of you.”
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