FIFA President Gianni Infantino has had enough of the criticism after years of discussions about controversial World Cup hosts Qatar. “Let’s focus on football,” writes the powerful boss! What fatal ignorance, what dangerous arrogance.
May the World Cup games begin – and let the world finally shut up… sorry, shut up. That’s what the FIFA boss wants. Gianni Infatino wants to clear the dazzling stage of the giant pre-Christmas tournament in the desert for heroic stories on the pitch – and for himself, his joy in the most controversial World Cup of all time and his peace. Because of course the most powerful football official on the planet at the side of the emir doesn’t want to be constantly penalized with all the accusations against the hosts.
Infantino wants the World Cup to be about football. And not about political debates. He communicated this wish to the 32 participating nations in a letter. Whenever you think this tournament has now nailed itself to the last coffin, it gets a little more absurd. And then all too often in the guise of Gianni Infatino. Whatever kind of person he may be or wants to be, one thing is clear: he is not someone who understands the signs of the times, picks them up and knows how to use them for himself. The 52-year-old Swiss has the grotesque talent of always choosing the wrong path – and celebrating it.
Infantino demands: “Please don’t allow football to be dragged into every political and ideological battle.” Secretary General Fatma Samoura also signed the letter. According to the duo, respect means “having respect for diversity. No person, culture or nation is better than everyone else.” For its part, FIFA tries to respect all opinions without moralizing the rest of the world. In an unbearable and embarrassing way, Samoura tries to create a change of mood. In a question and answer session distributed by the world association, she raves about a “month full of cheers and celebrations”. She raves about the greatest show of all time. She looks forward to positive vibrations for the world. Starting from a place where people are oppressed. Where the sworn hospitality, a trigger greeting to the summer fairy tale, has narrow limits. She relies on the power of football to unite people. The award to Qatar has only done one thing: deeply divided the (soccer) world.
The fact that the world championship is now being held in the desert in the pre-winter season is not linked to Infantino’s name, but rather to that of his predecessor, Sepp Blatter. His grin at the announcement eleven years ago is burned forever in the shabby annals of world football. That the World Cup will still be remembered as his (i.e. as Infantinos), that he did everything to whitewash this tournament instead of using the power of the association and football itself to deal with the life-threatening situation of guest workers and not To improve tolerated and oppressed minorities, that will be the legacy of the Games. Probably the only one. The hype about sustainable change has long since been refuted.
After the Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, warlord Vladimir Putin grabbed Crimea. When the Beijing Olympics ended, China increased its aggression against democratic Taiwan and Putin attacked Ukraine. So anyone who claims that major sporting events change autocrats is either naïve. Or lies. Openly embarrassing propaganda from all sides doesn’t help either. Not even from former top German politicians. FIFA is already electrified at the thought of colorful lights flashing over Qatar’s gory stadiums. In all colors. Just please not as a rainbow. The sign of tolerance with the LGTBQI community is not welcome. The DFB team even takes off their captain’s armband and opts for a “One Love Bracelet”.
Oh, these games are so absurd. Where to start and where to stop? In the fights against homosexuals and trans people that Human Rights Watch has just documented again? With FIFA and Sigmar Gabriel lobbying for openness and change? If this is serious, why are journalists on the ground followed at their work? Why are reporters advised to leave their private cell phones and laptops at home? Why is FIFA silent on the bizarre “bandit summit” between Putin and the Qatari emir, where Russia offered its support in staging the tournament and gratefully accepted leadership of the desert state?
Against all these well-known and lesser-known backgrounds, the letter from FIFA seems even more absurd and outrageous than it is on its own. This letter is a subtle attack on the associations’ freedom of expression, the great panic of Infantino and his Qatari followers that this World Cup may be penetrated by noise and not just dazzling illusions of a wonderful and free world. These deceptions are said to be obliterated by purchased followers. 400 “fans” are invited at the full expense of the hosts. The condition: positive comments in social networks. Propaganda for the love of football. What a perfidious strategy. 16 days before the start of the World Cup, the propaganda machine doesn’t even stutter. On the contrary: it continues to run well oiled at full speed). It is a powerful attempt to drown out the criticism, to snatch the well-documented arguments from the critics.
The bitter side: Infantino’s wish should have a deep impact on the associations. There will hardly be any actions for human rights. The players, according to the DFB, are mature and can say something if they want to. It probably means that collective actions like “Human Rights” shirts will not happen that way. One wishes that things would turn out differently. That football uses its gigantic power, that it has the courage and takes a stand against unjust regimes in the colorful light of the world public. That he unmasks dazzling illusory worlds, that he doesn’t just cheer and celebrate for a month. And that he – in this case – once again shows Infantino and his followers of FIFA the wrong path. The way through violence and death. May the World Cup games begin – and let the world speak. Louder, louder, louder and louder. A naive wish.
