A mere 10 days ago, International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) President Gianni Infantino begged New Zealand fans to attend the 2023 Women’s World Cup. Apparently, he felt no obligation to follow his own advice.
On Friday, reports emerged of Infantino hopping on his private jet in the middle of the tournament to travel to nearby Tahiti for four days. I get the appeal of wanting to be on a tropical island, but if you’re going to lecture New Zealand fans about how great the women’s World Cup is going to be, leaving halfway through the game seems to strongly undercut your message.
To be fair, Infantino’s trip wasn’t booked on a whim or just for pleasure. He had planned this before the tournament started, and was taking care of some business as well. According to the Daily Mail, he met with a number of leaders of Oceania nations to discuss future projects in that region to grow the game while on the island. Who better to send for those matters than the head of the most powerful sports body in the world?
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However, the Daily Mail also showed that Infantino was playing a match with the Tahiti national Beach Soccer team as the squad prepares for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in the UAE. I’m not saying the guy can’t have fun in Tahiti, but again, he showed that a pickup beach soccer game had his attention more than the Women’s World Cup. It only gets worse when you consider that Infantino attended at least part of all the matches at the 2022 Men’s World Cup.
Before the tournament, Infantino said:
“Many people who still believe that women’s football is not, you know, great, a great game or it’s not so entertaining or it’s a kind of a bad copy of men’s football, or some stuff like that. Well, when they watch a game for the first time, they will actually see that it’s a fantastic game. It’s very entertaining. It’s great athletes playing, the level has grown incredibly in the last 10 years, and the best are coming here.”
How are we supposed to take him seriously anymore if the tournament isn’t compelling enough even for him to stay?
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