FIFA boss poses by Pele’s coffin
Infantino offers a curious explanation for selfies
01/03/2023, 10:55 p.m
At the wake for the Brazilian football legend Pelé, pictures of Gianni Infantino appear, showing him in a selfie pose at the grave. This brings a lot of criticism to the FIFA boss. The Swiss defends himself on Instagram and explains the action at the wake.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has lashed out at criticism of his photos taken during the wake for Brazilian soccer legend Pele. “I want to make it clear that I felt very honored when teammates and family members of the great Pele asked me if I could take some photos with them. And of course I said yes immediately,” wrote the world governing body on Instagram.
Some of Pele’s former teammates at FC Santos asked him on Monday near the late idol’s open coffin “to take a selfie of all of us together, but they didn’t know how to do it. To help them, I took it mobile phone of one of them and took the picture of all of us for him,” Infantino defended.
Infantino received a lot of criticism on social networks for his action at the wake. Many users accuse him of a lack of shame and a lack of tact. What is behind the photo and who took the initiative is still unclear. Several media reports that Infantino was repeatedly approached to pose for group pictures.
During his visit on Monday, Infantino said that FIFA would ask all 211 football federations in the world to name a stadium after the outstanding footballer Pele in the future. “The children, the coming generations around the world, need to know who Pele was. And if they score a goal in a stadium named after Pele in 30, 50, 100 years and ask who he was, we can say: He was the greatest and he moved us,” said Infantino.
Pele, who became world champion in 1958, 1962 and 1970, died last Thursday at the age of 82 as a result of cancer. After three days of national mourning, his coffin was set up in the stadium of his ex-club FC Santos for 24 hours from Monday morning so that companions and fans could say goodbye to him. Pele was buried in the family circle on Tuesday.