Gianni Infantino humiliated during congress speech over Donald Trump visit
Furious Fifa members staged a walkout at its annual congress when Gianni Infantino turned up hours late after prioritising joining Donald Trump's Gulf tour.
Eight European members of the governing body's ruling council, including Football Association chair Debbie Hewitt and Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin, and some of the continent's other delegates did not return from a coffee break during the meeting in the Paraguayan capital of Asunción.
Fifa president Infantino had already risked upsetting delegates by delaying his arrival to join US president Trump's trip to Saudi Arabia and Qatar, something that had meant missing meetings with football's continental confederations and a state dinner at Paraguay's presidential palace to mark the country's independence day.
That he then turned up three hours late for the congress itself after travelling to Asunción by private jet was seen as a snub too far by many of his own electorate, who had been left in limbo waiting for the meeting to start.
Lise Klaveness, the president of the Norwegian FA and a member of Uefa's executive committee, said: 'The delayed arrival of the Fifa president at the congress is disappointing. The annual congress is the single most important body to ensure the good governance of international football.
'The situation is concerning as 210 member associations have travelled from all over the world to participate at this congress here in Paraguay, expecting professional leadership and dialogue at the highest level. I understand the frustration and disappointment from European Fifa members.'
Klaveness said she and other European colleagues decided to leave at 2pm local time 'as initially planned for a respectful departure'.
She added: 'We now expect Fifa to explain this situation to its members and ensure that the voices of the member associations are heard and respected going forward.'
Infantino apologised to the congress several times for his late arrival, citing issues with his flight for the delay.
But he also defended his trip to the Middle East, saying: 'As president of Fifa my responsibility is to make decisions in the interests of the organisation. I felt that I needed to be there to represent football and all of you.'
His late show also followed the 11th-hour switch of an in-person Fifa council meeting from Tuesday this week to a remote summit last Friday.
Infantino has made his relationship with Trump a priority since the latter's re-election and ahead of this summer's inaugural 32-team Club World Cup in the US and next year's World Cup, which is also being primarily staged there.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
3 hours ago
- Reuters
Argentine leader Milei licking his chops ahead of October elections
BUENOS AIRES, June 9 (Reuters) - Argentina's firebrand right-wing President Javier Milei has largely tamed runaway inflation with a ruthless austerity plan and he aims to solidify power when his party and its allies take on a divided opposition in legislative elections in October. The trash-tweeting, shaggy-haired economist, who famously handed tech billionaire Elon Musk a chainsaw at an event in Washington earlier this year, has overseen a steady dollar-peso peg but relies on legislative allies in Congress to pass his agenda. Many of the changes he has implemented have been through presidential decrees, like his ideological ally, U.S. President Donald Trump, who called Milei his favorite president. Voters will choose about half the seats in the lower chamber of Argentina's Congress and a third of the upper Senate on October 26. A big victory would not give Milei a legislative majority, but it would offer him leverage to make deals to sell off government-owned companies, cut social spending, change tax and labor policy and embrace social conservatism. That plan is in stark contrast to the program of the parties that are the ideological descendants of General Juan Peron, who ruled the country from 1946-1955 and 1973-1974, and his wife Evita. Their governments nationalized industries, unveiled pro-labor policies and rolled out social programs including free health care. The economic stability spurred by Milei, who took power in late 2023 and quickly slashed spending as part of a shock therapy program to pull the South American country out of a deep crisis, has not translated into across-the-board improvements. Prices of basic goods like jeans and tennis shoes are reportedly double what they are in other parts of the Americas. Pensioners continue to protest the cost of living, and anger over the relatively poor salaries of healthcare workers at a respected pediatric hospital has turned into a months-long saga. Nearly 40% of Argentines remain in poverty, and many of them reject Milei's policies. "I'm not a Peronist, but I'll vote for them because I'd vote for anyone before Milei," said Jorge, a 42-year-old "cartonero" who collects cardboard for recycling, an extremely poor living. The man, who declined to give his last name, said one of his four children was treated at the pediatric hospital where staff are protesting. Posing another threat to Milei's popularity is the possibility that he may in coming months have to further tighten economic policy to meet the terms of a $20 billion International Monetary Fund loan that has boosted Argentina's reputation among investors, whose dollars the country desperately needs. Up for grabs in the election is the vast province surrounding the capital, Buenos Aires, which is the geographic heart of Peronism and home to 40% of the country's voters. A government source told reporters Milei has vowed to defeat Peronist Governor Axel Kicillof there. Milei's candidate unexpectedly placed first in a recent Buenos Aires local election, and consulting firm Observatorio Electoral shows Milei's Libertad Avanza party with a slim 37%-36% advantage over the center-left Peronists. Nationally, 42% of voters favor Milei against 23% for the Peronists. Beating the standard-bearers of Juan Peron's legacy would have seemed impossible a few years ago, but with inflation down to a projected 30% this year, from 118% last year, and Milei credited with cutting corruption, some voters are ready to give the political firebrand more power. "I'll vote for Milei again because he's achieved a degree of normality in the economy," said Federico Segovia, a 22-year-old university student who blamed the last Peronist president, Alberto Fernandez, for leaving the economy in disastrous shape. A recent survey by the consulting firm Synopsis found that the share of those who viewed Milei positively rose to 43.4% in May from 40.9% in April. Perhaps the biggest wind in Milei's sails comes from the power struggle that has pitted Kicillof and his one-time mentor, former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. Kicillof, who served as economy minister in Fernandez de Kirchner's government from 2013 to 2015, is expected to run for president in the 2027 election. "The rupture is inevitable," a Peronist source told Reuters. The two opposition politicians are still debating whether they will join forces for the congressional elections. "If there is no agreement for the legislative elections and Peronism is divided, La Libertad Avanza will win the elections in the province of Buenos Aires," the source said. Milei, meanwhile, has patched over divisions with his closest ideological neighbor, agreeing to offer a combined list of candidates with the center-right PRO party. The Peronists make up the largest party in Congress and have dozens of governors and mayors across the country. Observatorio Electoral pollster Julio Burdman, however, thinks that power base won't be enough to stop Milei's forces. "The ruling party has all the conditions" to win the most votes, he said. "I can't imagine any other result."
The Independent
4 hours ago
- The Independent
Argentina's Javier Milei calls Spanish Prime Minister ‘local bandit' in latest war of words
Argentina 's President Javier Milei has ignited a fresh diplomatic tiff after verbally attacking Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez at a recent event in Madrid. During the Madrid Economic Forum on Sunday, Milei, without directly naming Sanchez, called for "clobbering the local bandit." The comment recalls a similar incident last year that led to a diplomatic fallout between the two nations. Sanchez's office has so far declined to comment on the remarks. Milei, a libertarian and former TV pundit, assumed office in late 2023 and has become known for his unconventional stances and dramatic gestures, including once smashing a pinata of the central bank on live television. In May 2024, Milei called Sanchez's wife Begona Gomez"corrupt" at another event in Madrid. The comment led to a diplomatic spat, with the Spanish government withdrawing its ambassador from Buenos Aires for several months when Milei refused to apologise. Milei subsequently doubled down calling Sanchez "arrogant", "totalitarian" and a "coward", although Argentina kept its ambassador in Madrid.
The Guardian
5 hours ago
- The Guardian
Brazil braces for Bolsonaro's day in court as ex-president testifies over ‘coup plot'
Brazil's former president, Jair Bolsonaro, will finally find himself in the dock this week, accused of masterminding an armed far-right conspiracy to seize power after losing the 2022 presidential election. The 70-year-old paratrooper turned populist, who governed from 2019 until 2023, is scheduled to be interrogated by the supreme court as it seeks to untangle what federal police claim was a sprawling three-year plot to vandalize one of the world's largest democracies. Seven other alleged co-conspirators will also be questioned, including four former Bolsonaro ministers – three of them army generals; the ex-commander of the navy; and the ex-president's former right-hand man, Lt Col Mauro Cid. Bolsonaro's day in court, which is expected to come on Tuesday, is a milestone moment for a country that escaped from two decades of military dictatorship in 1985 but appears to have come perilously close to a return to authoritarian rule after the veteran leftist Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva beat Bolsonaro in the 2022 presidential election. 'This is the first time in Brazilian history that there is the prospect of the perpetrators of a coup being brought to justice,' said Bernardo Mello Franco, a political writer for the newspaper O Globo. 'Brazilian history is full of military coups and counter-coups … but throughout history the characters [behind them] have always gone unpunished, either because they succeeded in pulling off the coup and seized control of the judiciary, or because they were granted amnesty, which is what happened after the [1964-85] military dictatorship,' Mello Franco added. Bolsonaro is accused of trying – but ultimately failing – to overturn Lula's victory through a murderous plot, which allegedly involved assassinating or arresting key political rivals including the president-elect, his vice-president-elect, Geraldo Alckmin, and the supreme court justice Alexandre de Moraes. He has repeatedly denied the charges. The prospect of watching Bolsonaro go on trial has thrilled his many progressive detractors who, as well as the alleged coup attempt, blame the ex-president for rampant Amazon devastation, historic attacks on the rights of Indigenous peoples, human rights and Brazilian culture, and a calamitous and anti-scientific response to a Covid pandemic that killed hundreds of thousands of people. There is broad consensus among experts that Bolsonaro will be found guilty and convicted later this year, meaning the former congressman could face political oblivion and a decades-long prison sentence. 'Bolsonaro himself believes he has already been convicted by the supreme court – he's said it on numerous occasions,' Mello Franco said. 'Those who understand the supreme court also believe he'll be found guilty. There's a great deal of evidence against him.' Last week the former head of the air force, Brig Carlos de Almeida Baptista Júnior, gave damning evidence, telling the supreme court that at one point in 2022 the former head of the army, Gen Marco Antônio Freire Gomes, threatened to arrest Bolsonaro if he sought any kind of 'institutional rupture'. But major question marks remain over whether, if convicted, Bolsonaro will ever actually serve time. Already one rightwing presidential hopeful in the 2026 election, Romeu Zema, has pledged to pardon Bolsonaro if he wins power. Polls suggest that if Lula seeks re-election he will face a tough battle against whichever rightwing candidate inherits the votes of the still-popular Bolsonaro, who has already been barred from running because of his attacks on Brazil's electronic voting system. Potential heirs include one of Bolsonaro's politician sons, Eduardo or Flávio Bolsonaro; his wife, Michelle Bolsonaro; or the conservative governors of the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Paraná, Tarcísio de Freitas, Zema and Ratinho Júnior. There are also doubts over how Bolsonaro, a notoriously rambunctious Trump-inspired populist with a huge social media following, will behave when his day in court arrives. On the eve of his appearance, Bolsonaro promised he would not use the hearing to 'lacrar', a Portuguese word which roughly translates as 'take the piss', 'troll' or 'drop the mic'. But the ex-president said his 'inquisition' would be 'worth watching' and urged followers to tune in to see that 'truth' was on his side. 'It will be broadcast live, which is bonkers,' Mello Franco said of the politically charged session, declining to forecast how Bolsonaro might behave in the dock. 'The only predictable thing about Bolsonaro is that he'll be unpredictable.'
