Women’s World Cup: after a week, Infantino has already left for… Tahiti

During the last Men’s World Cup in Qatar, Gianni Infantino was omnipresent, attending – at least in part – the 64 matches of the competition. To the delight of the directors, who did not fail, each time, to film it in the stands. It will be more difficult to do the same during the Women’s World Cup: less than a week after its big launch, the FIFA president’s private jet has already left New Zealand for Tahiti, according to Sky Sports.

In total, Infantino will have attended only five days of competition. Arrived in New Zealand on July 17, his plane left for Tahiti on the 25th, without even passing through Australia, which is nevertheless co-organizer of the tournament. FIFA did not wish to communicate to Sky its possible return date. If the distances between the different host cities of this World Cup make it impossible to attend all its matches, the leader’s lack of investment raises questions, especially in view of his statements in recent weeks.

“It’s time to respect women,” he said, for example, on his social networks, demanding that broadcasters pay the same rights for the Women’s World Cup as for its male counterpart. “We just want (women’s) football to be respected and to be compensated at its fair value,” he added last May. Until the revelations of the English media, his Instagram account continued to publish images of women’s matches, which he did not attend.