For the first time in almost three years, delegates from national football associations gathered in one room in Doha on Thursday, but the hoped-for signals did not come from this 72nd FIFA Congress.
The world governing body remained true to itself, especially in the person of Gianni Infantino and his entourage. The FIFA President gave three speeches during the three-hour event, only to repeat the same old defensive speeches about the World Cup hosts and to exhaust himself in generalities.
Thus, Infantino studiously avoided formulating a clear position and a direct demand against the aggressor in the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, whose football delegates, other than the Ukrainian federation head Andrij Pavelko, who was only able to be present in the hall in a video message with a protective waistcoat on. Instead, he made a blanket appeal to all the centres of conflict with the “big request to all those in power in the world: please stop these wars. “
Klaveness tackles FIFA leadership head on
The sluggish audience gave a well-behaved, discreet and quickly fading applause for this rather general formulation – but in the form of the courageous Lise Klaveness there was at least one critical voice of dissent. The long-time Norwegian international, who has been president of the football association since the beginning of the month, was the only one present to break away and attack both World Cup host Qatar and the FIFA leadership head-on in her speech. In the “brutal war in Europe”, “one country has invaded another. Pressure must be exerted and FIFA must lead the way,” the 40-year-old demanded.
The Russian delegation, like Infantino, took note with a blank expression. The fact that the exclusion of the Russian teams from international competitions had been confirmed the day before, but that the Russian federation had not been disinvited from the congress, fits in with the eternal zigzag course of this run-down world federation that has been dominated by Infantino for six years. At the very end, the Swiss announced that he will stand for election for a third term next year. It is feared that his prospects of winning are not bad.
Infantino shows closeness to “my brother” from Qatar
He certainly has the Qatari vote. While Lise Klaveness castigated the awarding of the World Cup as “unacceptable” “with unacceptable consequences”, Infantino praised the “progress” that had already been made in the desert state in terms of human rights in recent years and only thanks to the awarding of the World Cup.
Of course, Infantino did not mention the fact that human rights organisations had again voiced harsh accusations about the conditions in Qatar this week. Instead, he showed proximity by giving the floor to “my brother”, Sheikh Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al Thani. The Qatari Prime Minister joined the chorus of pious promises by saying: “We want to build bridges between our cultures and break with all clichés.
In just under nine months, we will take stock and see what of these promises has been put into practice. Infantino is already going out on a limb: “It will be the best World Cup ever, the greatest show in the world.
