FIFA President Gianni Infantino Embarks On Path To Totalitarianism

From Russian President Vladimir Putin, who went to war against Ukraine, to Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, who staged a World Cup built on the slave labor of migrant workers, to Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman, who remains one of the world’s most autocratic leaders, FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s preference of political company is at best lamentable. He received the Russian Medal of State, lives in Doha, and frequently visits MBS. Yet, he does it all to unite the world. At least in his view.

Unity was the sales pitch of the soccer boss after FIFA and his obliging Council communicated to the world that the 2030 World Cup will be staged on three continents, taking the idea of co-hosting and mega sporting events to a new grotesque extreme. Above all, the decision, a political masterstroke, left Saudi Arabia, which promptly announced its bid, in pole position to land the hosting rights of the 2034 finals.

The Swiss soccer official, who once claimed that he was bullied as a child because of his red hair, is concerned over the polarization in the world. All the division irks him. Yet, the decision blindsided the soccer community at large, hardly a new phenomenon at FIFA where backroom deals, porkbarrel tactics, and secrecy have always been synonymous with the typical modus operandi. Democracy, by design, is in short supply.

An outcry followed: this tournament format was neither sustainable nor in line with the spirit of the World Cup. In a way, those points were irrelevant. FIFA does not care about sustainability and, in 2017, killed the essence of the competition in favor of commercial revenue with the introduction of a 48-team format.

At the last Women’s World Cup, both Infantino and then FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura had a private jet at their disposal. During the tournament, including visits to eleven member associations of Oceania, Infantino flew more than 40,000 km. Infantino remained a frequent flyer during the Covid-19 pandemic. Claims over Qatar’s carbon-neutral World Cup have remained deeply disputed, but there will be no greenwashing in 2026 and 2030 given the sheer scale of the nine different host nations involved.

Under Infantino, the identity of the World Cup has been steadily diluted as well. It is hard to conceive that an event that has become too big for its own good because of the greed of Infantino and his cabal of soccer officials will remain the pinnacle of the sport with the ever-stronger competition from the club game.

Infantino’s legacy will be in part that he destroyed the World Cup. Above all, his entente with despots around the world will mark Infantino out and, in the words of Ekstra Bladet journalist Jan Jensen, rank him “among the biggest scoundrels in FIFA’s 119-year-old history”.

On Wednesday, Infantino embraced Saudi Arabia like never before. Behind the scenes, he engineered a clear pathway for Saudi Arabia to stage the global finals, helping to facilitate an exercise in internal and external sports washing by MBS. The pieces of the puzzles are indeed falling into place.

Saudi Arabia has ramped up its investment in soccer. Its federation, the Saudi Arabian Football Association (SAFF), has concluded almost a half-century of Memoranda of Understanding with other member associations in a prolonged act of sports diplomacy. SAFF also has ties to CAF and OFC. Saudi Arabia will count on the support of all these countries – 65 in total – to railroad through their bid. Hours after Saudi Arabia announced their candidature, Djibouti became the first country to back the bid.

Infantino however remains Saudi Arabia’s biggest ally, but why is the FIFA president, who last year claimed he felt like a migrant worker, so desperate to head to the Arab kingdom? Migrant workers, after all, aren’t very welcome in Saudi Arabia. The country’s human rights record is poor. FIFA, however, cares little for human rights and sees them as part of a public relations exercise, a method that worked well to deflect criticism of the World Cup in Qatar. The organization’s pivot to Saudi Arabia confirms that attitude.

Courting the Saudis, Infantino simply wants more money, no matter the cost, no matter the collateral damage. All other considerations seem irrelevant and that makes Infantino a dangerous president, one who is unfit to head an organization that is supposed to serve as a custodian of the game.