FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s screed on Qatar criticisms wrong, inappropriate | Opinion
DOHA, Qatar – On the day before the World Cup began, FIFA celebrated Festivus.
For 90 minutes Saturday, FIFA president Gianni Infantino held an “airing of grievances,” taking aim in a deluded, hypocritical and factually ignorant screed at all those who have criticized soccer’s governing body for putting the World Cup in Qatar.
He co-opted the plights of migrant workers and the LGBTQ community, bemoaning the fact he’d been bullied as a child because of his red hair and freckles. He gave Qatar a pass for its continuing bigotry and exploitation because of what western countries once did. He chided critics for their double standards without the slightest recognition of his own.
“It’s sad that we can’t focus on football,” Infantino lamented as he put on his martyr’s cloak. “You want to criticize someone, come to me. Criticize me. Crucify me. I’m here for that. Don’t criticize the players, don’t criticize Qatar.”
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How sweet of Infantino to defend the honor of his new Qatari besties, I wasn’t sure they had any. But I suppose blind loyalty is what’s demanded after all the millions the Qataris have put in the pockets of Infantino and other FIFA members over the last 12-plus years.
ban alcoholic beer at stadiums two days before the start of the World Cup. But I digress.
“Of course there are still things that don’t work and need to be addressed,” Infantino said. “But this moral lesson giving, one-sided, it’s just hypocrisy.”
To dismiss standing up for the marginalized and those whose health and safety are put at risk, and to do it with such a display of petulance and anger, was astonishing to see from the head of a global sports organization. This isn’t a Seinfeld episode. Real people have died. Real people are afraid for their health and safety. Real people are being treated as if they are not fully human.
That Infantino and his Qatari friends have been rankled by the criticisms is simply too damn bad.