Gianni Infantino closes all 'negative conversations' ahead of the Women's World Cup. Photo: Getty Images/Saeed Khan
Fifa President Gianni Infantino ridiculed the phrase «today I feel… . .' a speech he gave on the eve of the 2022 FIFA Men's World Cup, referring to the now-infamous monologue he spoke at the opening of the Women's World Cup.
Last November, amid widespread news coverage of the treatment of migrant workers in Qatar and LGBT rights in the country hosting the men's tournament, Infantino began a strange and lengthy sermon by saying: «Today I feel like a Qatari, today I feel like an Arab, today I feel like an African, today I feel like a gay, today I feel like a disabled person, today I feel like a migrant worker.»
Speaking in Auckland on Wednesday ahead of Thursday's tournament kick-off match between co-hosts New Zealand and Norway in Group A at Eden Park, and just a couple of hours after landing in the country on a long haul flight, the seemingly jet lag Infantino began his opening remarks by saying: but I feel very happy. It is a great joy and happiness to be here.”
These light-hearted comments seemed to bring a smile to the press conference, although more serious matters were discussed soon after.
In this tournament, following a global agreement between the global player union Fifpro and FIFA, every player in the World Cup should receive at least $30,000 (£23,000) in bonuses simply for participating in the group stages under a new bonus deal that Infantino described as «groundbreaking».
For semi-professional players or amateur players competing for the poorer countries participating in the tournament, this kind of money is extremely important and potentially life-changing.
However, Infantino insisted on what guarantees FIFA could give to ensure that all players will definitely receive the money they are owed and not fall into the national football associations or other hands, but the FIFA president seems to have shifted the responsibility to the national football associations.
“We have made recommendations, but we are an association of associations. So any payments we make will be made through the associations and then the associations will make the appropriate payments to their players,” said Infantino.
“But we keep in touch with all the associations and there are different situations in different parts of the world, taxation, residence and so on, that require special agreements, which of course are agreements for some associations with players from the past.”
Infantino also made a direct request to New Zealanders to buy more tickets. When asked about ticket sales, he asked which camera in the room belonged to the New Zealand broadcaster before answering, then looking directly at that camera, he said, «New Zealand, we need you, we need you, it's never too late to do the right thing, come watch the matches.» We need full stadiums to warm us all up.”
This comes amid reports that a high percentage of tickets for the tournament were sold in Australia, but the number of tickets for matches played in New Zealand was much lower. However, FIFA Secretary General Fatima Samoura added: “Four weeks ago, we surpassed the number of tickets sold from France in 2019. We have sold exactly 1,375,000 tickets.”
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