FIFA boss Gianni Infantino is fully in line with Qatar at the World Cup. He doesn’t see the human rights problems or the discussion about the lack of diversity. That will change as soon as the World Cup is over, says former DFB President Reinhard Grindel.

Former DFB President Reinhard Grindel expects a “different” Gianni Infantino after the World Cup in Qatar. He could imagine that the FIFA President would then “only be interested in the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico and the national sponsors there,” said Grindel. “It wouldn’t surprise me that FIFA would then take care of human rights and diversity. That’s expected, especially in the USA,” said the 61-year-old. The background is the possible great pressure from donors in these questions.

Infantino had been sharply criticized by European nations in recent months and especially at the start of the World Cup for the ban on the “One Love” captain’s armband. During the finals in Qatar, the 52-year-old Swiss man was reluctant to make any public appearances. A press conference with the FIFA President is expected at the end of the World Cup. Infantino used the opening conference before the first World Cup game for a large-scale defense of controversial World Cup hosts Qatar.

“He has made himself the organizer’s advocate. At the same time, he knows that most associations do not share the reservations from parts of Western Europe,” said Grindel, who sat on the FIFA Council as DFB President from 2017 to 2019. Both had disagreements on several occasions.

“Infantino is more controversial than many think. I’ve been told that over and over again in my talks with many other presidents from all over the world,” said Grindel. He referred to the fact that the nomination deadline for the upcoming FIFA presidential elections had expired in March shortly before the World Cup. Infantino is running unopposed. “The most important thing for Gianni Infantino was that the application deadline for opposing candidates expired before the World Cup. As a result, he didn’t have to consider Qatar critics,” said Grindel. “Infantino will work on an image correction by 2027 because he can’t avoid it because of the World Cup in the USA”.

(This article was first published on Thursday, December 15, 2022.)