The president of world football’s governing body FIFA has apologised to British football fans after a comment which was criticised as a “cheap joke” by the Football Association.
Gianni Infantino suffered a backlash last month after joking that: “For the first time in history… no Brit was arrested during a World Cup. Imagine! This is something really really special”.
In a wide-ranging interview, Mr Infantino told The World with Yalda Hakim that the comments were “meant to be more of a light-hearted remark” aimed at highlighting that the 2022 Qatar World Cup “was a celebration” and “a peaceful event”.
The FIFA boss firstly apologised to fans from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, saying that offending them was “not my intention”.
He went on to say that: “I’m a huge fan of English football”, adding that he had been wrong to refer to English people who “just go and riot around the world” at football matches as fans, instead referring to them as “criminals”.
Mr Infantino then highlighted and praised efforts made by England to tackle football violence.
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Tackling violence and peace was a recurring theme for Mr Infantino.
The FIFA boss recognised the “strong reaction” to the organisation’s new peace prize but doubled down on the decision and the awarding of it to President Donald Trump.
The football president stated that FIFA’s slogan – football unites the world – “goes hand in hand with peace”.
“So, whatever we can do to help peace in the world, we should be doing it, and for this reason, for some time we were thinking about [whether] we should do something to reward people who do something.”
Mr Infantino insists that person is Mr Trump, saying that “objectively, he deserves it”.
He then highlights Venezuelan opposition leader Ms Machado’s praise of Mr Trump. “It’s not just Gianni Infantino who said it… [there’s] a Nobel Peace Prize winner who said this.”
“He was instrumental in resolving conflicts and saving lives and saving thousands of lives.”
Mr Infantino praises Mr Trump for getting people on opposite sides of conflict into the same room.
He feels the same thing should happen in international football.
“Never ban any country from playing football”
The FIFA president is unequivocal when asked if he would look at lifting the ban on Russia – put in place by FIFA and UEFA in 2022 following the country’s invasion of Ukraine.
“We have to,” he says.
“Definitely.”
“Because this ban has not achieved anything, it has just created more frustration and hatred.”
He goes on to say that he believes “having girls and boys from Russia being able to play football games in other parts of Europe would help.”
He is also against a ban on Israel, saying such a ban “is a defeat”.
The FIFA boss then goes further, saying he believes the organisation should look into changing its rules and “enshrine in our statutes that we should actually never ban any country from playing football because of the acts of their political leaders”.
“Somebody needs to keep the ties open.”
For this reason, he’s also not in favour of boycotts.
When asked about those who are calling for a boycott of the 2026 US World Cup due to concerns over President Trump’s immigration policies and safety issues, he disagrees.
He says there is never any call for boycotts by businesses or on diplomatic levels, and asks multiple times, “So why football?”.
“I think, in our divided world, in our aggressive world, we need occasions where people can come, can meet around the passion [for football].”
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Women’s football is progressed through “engaging”
Mr Infantino speaks about how he navigates working with female players and progressing women’s football in some of the world’s most repressive regimes, like Iran and North Korea.
“These are things that take years,” and “you don’t achieve this with threats or sanctions,” he says.
“You achieve this by engaging.”
The FIFA boss explains how in Iran, he went several times to meet the president and officials, arguing in a “respectful way, without shouting and screaming” for women’s football.
He argues that “ultimately, we managed to succeed”.
Iranian women who were banned from entering stadiums since the revolution in 1979, are now allowed into stadiums, he says.
“And similarly, in North Korea, if you listen again to all our experts here, you shouldn’t have any relations with North Korea.
“I went to Pyongyang. I spoke to the regime. We spoke to them. And now we have these North Korean girls who are world champions in our youth categories.”
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“You integrate them and you make them feel part of the world, and I think this is very important.”
He says these maybe “some of the great achievements that we [FIFA] made”.
Mr Infantino also told Yalda Hakim about how he and FIFA helped to get women players out of Afghanistan after the Taliban regained power – some of those women ended up training in the UK.
“It was and it is the right thing to do.”
He explains how FIFA “developed women’s football in Afghanistan for some years”.
He says these women were “left to themselves” after the regime change and “we felt, that it was important to give a signal to help, to assist, all these Afghan girls and women who love the game”.
“Ultimately, we managed to, not just to help get these girls and women out and help them to have a new life, but also to give them a real, purpose in football.
“To have them coming together, train and play and represent somehow, their country with a team that is called Afghan Women United.”
Mr Infantino says FIFA must “just engage. But engage for everyone. Without taking sides”.
