January 27 – With a visit to Italy’s far-right deputy prime-minister Matteo Salvini, FIFA president Gianni Infantino has once again marked his presidency by his keenness to use his football honorarium for non-football involvement in extremist political circles.
It once again raises questions about a football governing body that is increasingly putting elitism and alignment with far right politics ahead of the values of respect and equality that are the fundamental tenets of football and at the core of the actual playing of the game.
Last week, Infantino attended the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th president of the United States in Washington DC and assured Trump that “together, we will make not only America great again, but also the entire world, because football – or soccer – unites the world.”
Infantino has wasted no time in forging ties – on FIFA’s coin – with other right-wing politicians on the other side of the Atlantic with seemingly no football purpose. He was paid $4.67 million last year (excluding his private jet travel, children’s private education and other expenses) to be the president of the world game, a custodial role for an organisation that has frequently said it is both a-political and, with its football specificity and values, has its own laws that take precedence over any national law.
In Rome, he visited minister Salvini and met the brother of Elon Musk, Kimbal Musk. Infantino handed personal pennants to both Salvini and Musk.
Mirroring an executive order of Trump, Salvini has said he wants to pull Italy out of the World Health Organisation. In December, an Italian court cleared Salvini of illegally detaining migrants on a rescue ship in 2019.
Infantino’s meeting with Kimbal Musk signalled that the FIFA president feels no need to distance himself from the Musk family and their extreme right wing politics.
Last week, Elon Musk offered a Nazi salute during Trump’s inauguration.
German newspaper Die Zeit headlined an editorial: ‘A Hitler salute is a Hitler salute is a Hitler salute’.
“There is no need to make this unnecessarily complicated. Anyone on a political stage giving a political speech in front of a partly right-wing extremist audience,” — present at the inauguration were several far-right politicians from Germany, Italy, France and Britain — “anyone who raises their right arm in a swinging manner and at an angle several times is doing the Hitler salute,” said the article.
Since Trump’s inauguration, Infantino has been on the road and in the skies again, flying private.
In Davos, at the World Economic Forum, Infatnino met with Amin Nasser, the CEO of Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s national oil company and FIFA’s worldwide partner. Aramco, one of the world’s leading polluters, became a sponsor of FIFA months before the world federation awarded the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia following a bidding process that defied good governance standards.
On Friday, the FIFA boss also celebrated the 125th birthday of the German FA in Leipzig and on Saturday, Infantino attended the Premier League match between Manchester City and Chelsea, two clubs that will feature at the Club World Cup.
FIFA has been contacted for comment.
Contact the writers of this story at samindra.kunti@insideworldfootball or moc.l1738034126labto1738034126ofdlr1738034126owedi1738034126sni@n1738034126osloh1738034126cin.l1738034126uap1738034126