The Pécresse, Le Pen, Zemmour or Mélenchon are not the only ones campaigning. This Wednesday, before the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, Gianni Infantino, the president of Fifa (international football federation), fiercely defended the World Cup every two years.
The change in the rhythm of the World Cup has been a major subject of tension in football for months, UEFA and the South American confederation Conmebol are fiercely opposed to it. So far, the World Cups have been held every four years, with the next scheduled for November 21-December 18 in Qatar.
Main investigator of this biannual World Cup, the boss of FIFA has used quite astonishing arguments to justify this change of calendar in remarks reported by several media including the Cadena Cope. “We need to find ways to include the whole world to give hope to Africans so that they don’t need to cross the Mediterranean to find perhaps a better life but, more likely, death in sea, said the Swiss. We have to give opportunities, give dignity”
For Infantino, Europe gathers the gratin of the world. “We see football developing in a direction where some have it all and most have nothing. In Europe, the World Cup takes place twice a week because the best players in the world play there. »
In this same speech, the boss of world football took the opportunity to support the Qatari organizers in the face of criticism. Qatar has been the subject of numerous attacks due to the death toll on the construction sites of the 2022 World Cup stadiums. More than 6,500 immigrant workers have died in the country since 2010, when the competition was awarded to the state. du Golfe “In Europe, it took centuries and centuries to change,” recalls Infantino, who has just moved to… the Emirate. There is a lot to do, a lot to change. We have to keep the pressure on, but also recognize that there have been changes. »