Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, asserted that the World Cup in Qatar was the best edition of the competition to date. Prior to Sunday’s championship match between Argentina and France, he made an appearance at a news conference.
The 2026 World Cup, which will be jointly hosted by the United States, Mexico, and Canada, will be enlarged to include 48 teams, according to Infantino, although the original planned format will be reviewed. The tournament in Qatar has 32 participating teams.
Infantino had previously faced criticism when he addressed the World Cup hosting controversy in Qatar, a nation that had been demonised in some circles for what was perceived as systemic discrimination against LGBT people as well as the alleged widespread abuse of migrant workers who helped build the various stadium infrastructure. This was during Infantino’s pre-tournament press conference a few weeks prior.
In those remarks, Infantino discussed the unfavourable headlines surrounding Qatar’s human rights record and claimed to feel “gay,” “disabled,” and “African,” among other things.
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However, there were no such newsworthy pronouncements on Friday.
“(There was) unanimous praise from the FIFA council for this World Cup, the unique cohesive power it has shown, thanks to everyone involved – of course Qatar, all the volunteers who work for us and everyone who has contributed to make this World Cup the best World Cup ever,” Infantino, who was an hour late for the news conference, made the following statement.
He explained that the FIFA council meeting he attended was the cause of the delay and provided details on its outcomes, which included changes to the FIFA World Club Cup and the addition of a female equivalent to the same competition.
Infantino claimed that the following event in four years will be an extended version of others that have come before it, and he added that he thought the World Cup being held in the winter this year raised the calibre of football on display.
“We are really convinced of the growth, we have been approving a 48-team format with 16 groups of three where the top two would move into a knockout phase,” he explained, but also said that the possibility of 12 groups of four remains.
However, Infantino brought up the subject of different teams showing support for LGBT causes in the early stages of the World Cup and reaffirmed FIFA’s position that politics and sport cannot coexist.
“Maybe (fans) feel everyone has their own problems and they just want to spend 90 minutes without having to think about anything else and just enjoy a little moment of pleasure, of joy, or at least of emotion,” he said.
“We are a global organization, we do not have to discriminate anyone, based on whatever regime, whatever values they have.
“Everyone is free to express their views and opinions as long as it is in a respectful way, but when it comes to the field of play you have to respect football – 211 football teams (are in FIFA), not 211 heads of state or what have you.”
