FIFA Congress members walk out after Gianni Infantino’s late arrival following meeting with Donald Trump

Selecting members of the FIFA congress ran their annual meeting on Thursday in a reprimand by President Gianni Infantino, who forced the meeting to start a few hours late when he returned from a trip to the middle -old, where he spent time with US President Donald Trump.

The annual meeting, which took place this year in the capital of Paraguaya of Asuncion, was planned to start at 9.30 am local time, but was pushed until 12.30 because of the travel schedule of Infantino. His private jet of Qatari was still in the air when the meeting had to start, Per athleticsAnd his long journey included a pit stop in Nigeria to refuel the plane.

According to the Athletic, the eight UEFA members of the FIFA council, together with some European delegates, did not return to the meeting, including UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin.

Infantino was next to Trump in Qatar and Saudi Aarabia and was present for the meetings of the American president with Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and the crown prince of Saudi -Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman. The FIFA president has spent a lot of time with Trump since the latter returned to the office, attending pre-in-agency events and the inauguration itself in January and making several trips to the White House for what FIFA has described as official things before the 2025 Club World Cup and 2026 organizing the. Infantino was also on site in the White House last week for a meeting of the World Championship Task Force.

The FIFA president chose to go to the middle -east despite previously planned events in Asuncion, including the meeting of the congress that was originally set for Tuesday of this week. Infantino delayed the meeting for two days to become a member of Trump, where they were missing opportunities to make contact with the presidents and general secretaries of all FIFA memberships. Infantino also missed a dinner organized by Paraguayan state officials on Wednesday.

In his delayed arrival in Asuncion Infantino apologized for his slowness, but he also defended himself.

“As President of FIFA, my responsibility is to make decisions in the interest of the organization,” said Infantino. “I decided to be in the middle for the last two days, knowing that the World Cup 2034 will be in Saudi Arabia and the World Cup in 2022 was in Qatar. I look forward to spending time with you here.”

The apology of Infantino Sissen no participants in those present, who then organized a strike. Various officials from European countries left at 2 p.m. local time, as part of their first plans. Lise Klaveness, the president of the Norwegian football federation, was particularly critical of Infantino’s behavior.

“The delayed arrival of the FIFA president at the 75th FIFA congress is disappointing,” said Klaveness, Per the New York Times. “The annual congress is the most important body to guarantee a good governance of international football. The situation is worrying. [Two hundred and ten] Member associations have traveled from all over the world to participate in this congress here in Paraguay, expect professional leadership and dialogue at the highest level. “

Among the issues of this year’s agenda for this year’s FIFA Congress were a revision of the FIFA annual report, the election of the disciplinary committee, the ethical committee, the appeals committee and the governance, audit and compliance committee, as well as other proposals from the member associations.