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≡ THE LEGACY FIGHT IS ON ≡
FIFA President Gianni Infantino (SUI) posted an 886-word message praising the just-completed FIFA World Cup and decrying any and all critics, starting the piece with:
“To everyone who missed our beautiful game, the emotions, the celebrations, the laughter, the crying, the deception, and the joy. To all of you who missed watching kids, babies, grandparents, and parents come together for the beautiful game, I say sorry that the matches are now over and sorry that you missed all that joy and togetherness. Sorry that you were so consumed by hate and criticism that you missed it all.”
He went on, in relevant part:
● “We experienced no violence, no incidents, 100% safety and security, only joy and happiness!”
● “Seven million people from over 200 countries enjoyed the tournament across 16 fantastic cities and stadiums: zero incidents, zero hostility, zero violence, just joy, emotions, happiness, unity, and togetherness. All were safe, secure, and happy.”
● “While you spread hatred, we worked tirelessly to unite two countries at war. Iran entered the United States without incident or conflict. When the Iranian team began playing, all the chants against them turned into a single song. The fans became the country, they became the team, and they stood behind Team Melli. This is the power of football. The Iranian team received visas to enter because football is about peace. It’s not about politics. Football is about unity, not division. Football is bigger than hate and discrimination.”
● “Countries facing serious health issues or other challenges were granted visas. Their teams competing and fans cheering filled millions of people back home with hope and, if only for a moment worth eternity, with joy and pride.”
● “You mentioned the few people denied visas and overlooked the millions who were approved, from all parts of the world. Because football unites the world, and it was demonstrated impressively this summer.”
And there was more; he dismissed questions about “a few decisions made by the competent authorities” and towards the end, he added, “May you find peace; we at FIFA have found ours and we deliver it, by delivering the most outstanding FIFA World Cup. May football rise above all hate.”
His message was met with opposing views, such as from Will Castle in Britain’s The Independent, headlined “Sorry Gianni, your Trumpian rant does not undo World Cup failure.” And he went on from there:
“It’s honestly adorable to see how desperately Gianni Infantino wants to be Donald Trump. You could hear the US president’s cadence, even see his hand gestures, as Infantino went on an extraordinary, self-congratulating rant putting his World Cup haters on blast. Trump has clearly taught his Fifa counterpart his tried-and-tested political mantra: shout something repeatedly and loud enough and eventually it will definitely become true, probably.
“But he isn’t Trump. He isn’t even Switzerland’s leading Trump tribute act.
“Infantino claimed his ‘most outstanding World Cup’ went off without a hitch. ‘We experienced no violence, no incidents, 100 per cent safety and security, only joy and happiness!’ Think you remember the Folarin Balogun debacle? The disgraceful treatment of Iran? The refusal to allow Africa’s best referee to enter the country? The deaths of four people in a crush during the celebrations of Mexico’s win over Ecuador? No, you are just “consumed by hate” – cheer up, misery guts!”
And Castle ends, “But one thing is for sure: for all the prayers and meditation that Infantino recommends to his critics, this World Cup will not go down in the books as one of the greats. It’ll be resigned to the dustbin of duds, which is exactly what Trump would have wanted to avoid.”
Criticism came from within the FIFA Family as well, as U.S. Soccer Vice President Nathan Goldberg Crenier, writing in a personal capacity and not for the federation, wrote in a guest editorial for Britain’s The Guardian on 18 July, in pertinent part:
● “Because Infantino’s actions harm soccer in a way I cannot condone, and especially because he’s doing so by inserting himself in my own country’s domestic politics, I feel compelled to denounce them publicly.”
● “Yes, it’s important for Fifa to foster a good working relationship with any host country’s government, but Infantino has repeatedly crossed the line between professionalism and groveling. Beyond frequent White House appearances, Infantino allowed his proximity to Trump to overshadow Chelsea’s championship moment at the Club World Cup, interfere with the agenda at last year’s Fifa Congress, and politicize Fifa in a way that undermines its mission statement through recurring, implicit endorsements of Trump, as detailed in the FairSquare ethics complaint against him. Infantino is even channeling some of Fifa’s wealth, meant to spur development of the sport globally, to Trump’s pocket by renting office space in Trump Tower despite already operating a permanent Fifa office in Miami.”
● “And when it comes to Trump’s meddling in the Balogun case, the biggest casualty was soccer’s integrity.”
He asks: “In the short term, I hope federations around the world find the courage to oppose Infantino’s vision for the sport; in the long term, I urge them to pursue structural governance reforms that take power away from the role of the Fifa president and shift it toward the Council, the Congress, and the Secretary General, so that no single individual can ever act unilaterally to soccer’s detriment again.”
On Monday, U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland) sent a letter to Infantino, asking for FIFA to turn over information on communications and gifts given to Trump, requested Infantino appear for an interview with the Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee and called FIFA’s ticket sales program “unlawful.”
Because the Democrats in the minority in the House, Raskin’s requests have little impact. If the Democrats take control of the House after the November elections, Raskin could be the head of the Judiciary Committee and could exert much more force, especially since the U.S. is expected to be the host of the 2031 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Multiple states are also looking into the FIFA ticket sales program and reseller StubHub is being sued for not delivering tickets it presented as for sale on its site.
The tournament is over, but the fights are just starting.
¶
FIFA offered up a fun package of facts and figures on the tournament, including:
● Fan Festivals: Total attendance was 9.017 million; the biggest was in Mexico City, with 2.570 million (36 days), followed by 613,682 in Vancouver (28 days) and Miami at 594,036 (24 days).
● Food: Some 674.939 hot dogs were consumed, and 4.06 million food items in total. There were 4.62 million soft drinks and bottles of water, plus 5.515 million servings of beer:
“Beyond hot dogs, pretzels were the snack of choice in Boston, Houston, Kansas City, Miami, New York New Jersey and Seattle, while nachos topped the menu in Vancouver, Dallas, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Elsewhere, fans in Atlanta gravitated towards cheeseburgers, Philadelphia embraced its iconic Crab Fries, and Toronto stayed true to local tradition with poutine. Across Mexico, regional flavours proved equally popular, with chicken croquettes leading sales in both Mexico City and Guadalajara, where more than 45,000 portions were sold, while supporters in Monterrey favoured chicharrones, consuming 19,634 portions during the tournament.”
● News media: FIFA reported “5,467 media accreditations across press, photography, and non-rights-holding (NRH) broadcasters.” This included 3,030 writing press (1,853 international, 354 national, 753 local). There were 1,560 photo accreditations: 755 international, 215 national, 542 local and 48 technicians.
Rights-holding broadcasters took up 9,406 accreditations from 253 organizations which had an on-site presence. All told, that’s 14,873 total media accreditations.
● Staffing: FIFA said a “total of 297,477 personalised accreditations were issued, representing 82% of all registrations, alongside a further 163,197 impersonalised passes supporting ceremonies, workforce, deliveries, temporary access and other tournament operations.”
There were 43,000-plus volunteers, 2,530 FIFA staff and 73,700 security personnel across the event:
“The unprecedented operation included 34,586 private security personnel, 33,157 law enforcement officers, 3,565 public safety personnel, 1,439 federal public safety officials, 849 protective security operations staff and 167 FIFA Safety & Security personnel. More than 11,300 police escorts were coordinated for teams, officials and VIP movements, with an average of six officers supporting every movement.”
● Teams: The 48 teams brought 1,248 players and a total of 2,528 staff members. Some 1,039 players actually played in at least one game.
● Ticketing: FIFA’s official attendance total was a record 6,810,966 fans, with: “A total of 130k tickets were offered at USD 60; 145k tickets offered at USD 100 or below; 950k tickets offered at USD 200 or below; 1.4m tickets offered at USD 300 or below and 2.8m tickets offered at USD 450 or below.” If these segments are exclusive, that total is 5.425 million, meaning 1.386 million tickets were sold for more than $450, more than 20.3% of all sold. And that 61.5% were sold for more than $300.
Also, 642,560 hospitality packages were sold to buyers from 154 countries.
¶
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