Dhe future is certain. Gianni Infantino remains FIFA President. Anyone who wants it in black and white just had to read the press release that the German Football Association sent out on Wednesday afternoon. It states that Gianni Infantino has already collected enough nominations for the forthcoming International Football Association Congress in Kigali, Rwanda in March 2023 that his re-election is certain. The DFB’s post was captioned with the message that the Germans had not nominated a candidate for the election. What, as DFB President Bernd Neuendorf said on the sidelines of the international match against Oman, should be understood as criticism of Infantino and his behavior in recent months.
You have to translate the sports association’s dialectic a little, then it gives a clear picture of the balance of power in the International Football Association under Gianni Infantino, 52 years old, from Brig in Valais, currently living in Doha, Qatar.
The picture: The FIFA President is untouchable.
The translation: Since Neuendorf became its president in the spring, the German Football Association has been one of those mostly European, or more precisely: Northern and Western European associations that have – mostly cautiously – expressed criticism of the state of FIFA under Infantino, especially in relation to to the World Cup in Qatar and the problems associated with it.
However, these associations and their criticism are so insignificant for the future of the FIFA President that they express their opposition by not signing for Infantino in advance – but cannot even send a promising opponent on the track.
“There is no way for a new candidate to assert himself,” Bernd Neuendorf told an ARD reporter in Muscat on Wednesday. “Our decision should be a sign that we do not agree with how FIFA has dealt with the issues that are important to us in recent months.”
“Let’s focus on football, please!”
This can also be illustrated because it says a lot about how Infantino leads FIFA, how he can lead it: Bernd Neuendorf, in the entourage of German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, recently met Gianni Infantino in Doha. Neuendorf, as he said afterwards, was open-minded, the DFB President was in good spirits that there could still be a contact point for migrant workers in Qatar.
With a center where people seeking justice and advice, who keep the Qatari social and economic system going with their hard and cheap work, can find justice and advice. And with FIFA’s own compensation fund for injured migrant workers or their dependents. Nothing was heard from Infantino because the FIFA President was not available for questions.
Neuendorf flew back to Germany. A day passed. Then came mail from Infantino and his general secretary Fatma Samoura, to the DFB and the 31 other associations whose men’s national teams have qualified for the World Cup. The letter states: “The eight stadiums in Qatar provide the perfect platform for the greatest sporting event in the world. So let’s focus on football, please! We know that football does not exist in a vacuum and we are also aware that there are many challenges and difficulties of a political nature around the world. But don’t let football be dragged into every ideological or political battle that exists.”
