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The FIFA president was in the center of attention after his remarks before the Council of Europe, the main human rights organization on the continent. The executive director of Football Supporters Europe called the concepts of the football president “disgusting”, who hours later stated that he was “misunderstood”.
The World Cup every two years, the fervent wish of Gianni Infantino, is a matter of discussion in soccer, until now finding few benefits to the competition. In his constant tour to find support for his project, the FIFA president incurred in sayings that did not sit well with human rights organizations after assuring that a more frequent World Cup is an inclusive idea and capable of preventing African migrants from dying in the Mediterranean Sea.
“We need to include the whole world to give hope to Africans so that they do not have to cross the sea to find a better life, but are more likely to find death,” he said in his speech on Wednesday, January 26, in front of the Council of Europe. , the main human rights organization in the Old Continent.
These assertions were taken the wrong way by different humanitarian organizations. Ronan Evain, executive director of Football Supporters Europe, called Infantino’s comments “disgusting”, whom he accused of being unfit to lead world football.
For his part, the European media director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), Andrew Stroehlein, stated that his HRW colleagues “interview refugees from around the world almost every day and never mention the time of the World Cup tournaments. World”.
My colleagues at Human Rights Watch interview refugees around the world pretty much every day.
We write reports about the reasons – the abuses, the hardships – that forced them to leave their homes.
They never mention the timing of World Cup tournaments. https://t.co/HpsHvBLX40
— Andrew Stroehlein (@astroehlein) January 26, 2022
Hours later on the same Wednesday, Infantino reported that his statements had been “misunderstood” and that his intention was to make it clear that football can contribute to “helping improve the situation of people around the world” and that it was not necessarily going to to be a solution to the migration crisis.
The manager explained that his message was aimed at the fact that “everyone who holds a decision-making position has a responsibility to help improve the situation of people around the world.”
“If there are more opportunities available, including in Africa, but not limited to just that continent, this should allow people to take advantage of these opportunities in their own countries, that was my comment,” he concluded.
How low can Infantino go? Instrumentalizing death in the Mediterranean to sell his megalomaniac plan is beyond words. And in front of @PACE_Newsnot less.
Disgusting. He is not fit to run global football. https://t.co/N8QP8qXYzC
— Ronan Evain (@RonanEvain) January 26, 2022
In his speech, the FIFA president highlighted the need to shorten the distance between the European market and that of the other continents, something that –according to him- can be achieved with the more than four billion dollars of additional income with which they aim to accredit with a World Cup every two years.
“This issue is not about whether we want a World Cup every two years, but what we want to do for the future of football,” he said. The head of the world body pointed out that “football is about opportunities, hope for national teams.” “We can’t tell the rest of the world to give us their money, their best players and watch it on TV, we need to include them,” he added.
According to data expressed by the International Organization for Migration, which is affiliated with the UN, more than 1,315 people died trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea in 2021 fleeing poverty and armed conflicts in Africa and the Middle East.
With Reuters and AP