Gianni Infantino had made a tongue-in-cheek joke during a speech in Davos where he was thrilled to report that no British football fan was arrested during the 2022 World Cup
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has said sorry for joking British fans were football hooligans. He apologised for a gag he cracked at the recent World Economic Forum in Davos about supporter arrests.
The head of world football’s governing body said of the 2022 Qatar tournament: “For the first time in history no Brit was arrested during a World Cup. Imagine! This is something really really special.”
It sparked outrage from Football Supporters’ Association chiefs who said instead of cracking ‘cheap jokes’, Mr Infantino should provide cheap tickets for this summer’s World Cup. It comes after the full ticket prices were released late last year, promising to be the most expensive in history this summer.
In an interview with Sky News, Mr Infantino apologised for his attempt at humour. He said: “It was meant to be more of a light heartened remark to show that the World Cup in Qatar was a celebration, it was a peaceful event.”
The football chief apologised to fans from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, saying offending them was ‘not my intention’. Mr Infantino said he was wrong to refer to English folk who ‘just go and riot around the world’ at matches as ‘fans’ when they should be called ‘criminals’.
He went on to praise efforts made by England to tackle violence, adding: “I’m a huge fan of English football.” Mr Infantino said FIFA’s slogan ‘football unites the world’ went ‘hand in hand with peace’.
“So whatever we can do to help peace in the world we should be doing it,” he added. That was why, he said, he had presented US President Donald Trump with FIFA’s first ever peace prize when the draw was made for the World Cup which is being co-hosted by the US, Mexico and Canada. “Objectively, he deserves it,” he added.
“He was instrumental in resolving conflicts and saving lives and saving thousands of lives.” The football chief said in the spirit of conflict resolution he would look at lifting the ban on Russia brought in following the country’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
He said: “This ban has not achieved anything. It has just created more frustration and hatred.” He said ‘having girls and boys from Russia being able to play football games in other parts of Europe would help’.
Mr Infantino said his organisation should ‘enshrine in our statutes that we should actually never ban any country from playing football because of the acts of their political leaders’. He added: “Somebody needs to keep the ties open. I think in our divided world, in our aggressive world, we need occasions where people can come, can meet around the passion.”
Many fans seemed unimpressed by his apology. One said online: “Time to oust FIFA. Anyone know how to do that?” Another called for ‘big European nations’ to ‘withdraw from FIFA and set up something else’, adding: “Worked with the Premier League.”
Fuming fans turned on him after he cracked his hooligan gag telling him online to ‘f*** off’ and focus instead on the arrests of his association’s own corrupt officials. One wrote: “Maybe USA will be the first World Cup in ages that doesn’t result in an arrest for a FIFA official for corruption. Now that would be special.”
Another said: “Fourteen FIFA officials were arrested and indicted in connection with an investigation by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and US Justice Department into wire fraud, racketeering and money laundering, spanning a period of 24 years.”
One more said: “Just remind me how Russia and Qatar got their World Cup? He sits on top of an institution known for its corruption. That award to Trump was nauseating in the extreme.”
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