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The Valais is the face of the most controversial World Cup of all time. His rise from Uefa general secretary to the sole contender for the Fifa presidential elections next year: meteoric.
The headlines from Qatar are currently overturning. Most recent scandal: World football’s governing body bans several European teams from wearing a special captain’s armband, which is intended to call for discrimination and inclusion. The German Football Association is now taking Fifa to court in Switzerland.
And yet Fifa President Gianni Infantino, 52 and from Brig, is almost certain to be elected for a third term in March. How does that fit together? And who is this man?
The rise to the string puller
Because of allegations of human rights violations in the Gulf state, many European fans have called for a World Cup boycott. Infantino recently made it clear that he has little understanding for such actions.
Legend:
With the decision to award the World Cup to Qatar, FIFA has angered large parts of the fan scene in Europe. (pictured: FC Zurich game against Servette on 11/13/22)
KEYSTONE/Michael Buholzer
In what was actually an angry speech, he replied to his critics that he was “one of them”, referring to the minorities in Qatar. Then the Fifa boss added: “Today I’m gay, today I feel disabled.”
Today I feel gay, today I feel disabled.
When the 2022 World Cup was awarded to Qatar twelve years ago, Infantino was already working for a football association at a Swiss address – but around 250 kilometers away from Zurich, namely in Nyon on Lake Geneva.
Legend:
Gianni Infantino (right) at the 2013 European Women’s Championship draw in November 2012.
IMAGO/ADAM IHSE / TT;
- Gianni Infantino was born in Brig in 1970 as the son of Italian immigrants. He has two older sisters.
- He played football himself as a junior and active for FC Brig-Glis.
- Gianni Infantino is a trained lawyer with a degree from the University of Neuchâtel.
- The Valaisan worked for the European football association Uefa for 15 years. As general secretary, Infantino was responsible, among other things, for the group draws at tournaments.
- In 2016 he was elected FIFA President. Infantino thus succeeded another Valaisan: Sepp Blatter.
- In 2019, he was re-elected by acclamation. There was no opposing candidate.
- Infantino is married. His wife is from Lebanon. Together they have four children. In recent years he has partly moved his residence to Qatar.
2015 was to be a fateful year for Fifa and Gianni Infantino. In the course of the investigations by the US judiciary into the awarding of the World Cup, a total of 20 spectacular arrests were made within Fifa in May. President Sepp Blatter then resigned under pressure. New elections followed.
Legend:
The arrests of several Fifa officials in May 2015 were tantamount to a sports-political earthquake.
REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann
Infantino managed to get enough of the 211 national associations behind him within a very short time. He was elected President on February 26, 2016. The fact that a short time later his former sponsor at Uefa, Michel Platini, had to resign because of allegations of corruption, fueled rumors of a conspiracy on the part of Infantino. There is no evidence of this to this day.
In the new Fifa, money no longer disappears.
When he took office, the Valais promised a fresh start at Fifa and clean football. He explained to SRF in 2020: “No money disappears in the new Fifa.”
The boss wanted to draw a line under the scandals of the recent Fifa past. In the same interview with SRF, he also said: “I’m a very simple football fan.”
In fact, there were several reforms within the organization. The controversial Executive Committee was replaced by the new Fifa Council, and a minimum proportion of women was introduced. Fifa is also committed to transparency when it comes to salaries.
But the negative headlines didn’t stop. Even after Infantino took office, there were resignations with aftertaste, such as compliance chief Domenico Scala. In 2018, the Council of Europe published a report that attested to the FIFA President’s leadership of the organization with an iron hand, thereby making further reforms more difficult.
Infantino’s home power is outside of Europe
FIFA’s position as administrator of the world’s most popular sport and – with the World Cup – the largest sporting event, naturally puts it in the immediate vicinity of world politics. Infantino celebrates contact with the powerful of this world, but also receives a lot of criticism for it.
Legend:
Gianni Infantino together with the Emir of Qatar, Sheik Tamin bin Hamad al Thani, and the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, in Moscow in 2018. The awarding of the World Cup to Russia was also heavily criticized.
Reuters
Last but not least, the Fifa boss also sees European chauvinism in this criticism. In his recent angry speech, he addressed this directly. “For what we Europeans have done in this world over the past 3,000 years, we should apologize for the next 3,000 years before we teach others a moral lesson.”
For what we Europeans have done in the past 3000 years, we should apologize for the next 3000 years.
In the past few years, the historic center of world football has repeatedly turned up its nose at suggestions from Fifa headquarters. But the change towards a global product is unstoppable. From the next World Cup there will be 48 teams and not 32 as before. Asia in particular should benefit from this. Ethical and moral discussions, such as the one about the rights of homosexual people in Qatar, should therefore not decrease in the future.
Gianni Infantino has always stuck to Qatar as hosts despite all the criticism. The World Cup will be the “greatest of all time,” he said several times. For some time now, the Valaisian has lived with his family in the Gulf state for most of the year.