Gianni Infantino: "Football unites people"
FIFA President speaking during CONMEBOL's 78th Ordinary Congress in Asuncion (Paraguay), called on all football people to "care for and protect" the universal and unifying feelings of the game
FIFA president Gianni Infantino, speaking during CONMEBOL's 78th Ordinary Congress in Asuncion (Paraguay), called on all football people to "care for and protect" the universal and unifying feelings of the game.
The 2030 World Cup will mark 100 years since the first tournament was held in Uruguay. The vast majority of matches will be split between the three co-host countries, Morocco, Portugal and Spain, but Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay will host a match to honor South America's role in the birth of the competition.
"It will be something unique, it will be the centenary World Cup," said the FIFA president.
"It will be the World Cup that will really bring the world together. We always say that football has the magic, the power to bring people together in every corner of the world with the same feeling. The magic that if you give a football to a young girl or a young boy, their faces instantly light up. It's something special and it's something that I think we, as executives, have to look after and protect, protecting the values of football," he added.
“The values we all have and the values we all grew up with. Everyone plays football, organizes football, watches matches as fans. These values are the same in Oceania, North America, Africa, South America, Asia or Europe. And for that reason, when we started talking about 2030, it was clear to me that we had to think about something special."
He also noted the central position South America has enjoyed on the world stage in recent years, from Argentina's 2022 victory in Qatar to Uruguay lifting the U-20 World Cup in 2023, while also highlighting how its other tournaments are to come. FIFA in the region, notably the Trademark U-20 Women's World Cup in Colombia in September and the Trademark U-20 World Cup - held in Argentina last year - which will be held in Chile in 2025.
"Events that will help, frankly, to bring young people together, boys and girls, in a sport that has a unique, incredible history and that has an incredible future, and I'm even more convinced now. Even more so because it brings us together, and it's what we need most, to be honest, in these times," said the FIFA president.
“In this age of aggression on a global scale with conflicts in different places, we need something that brings people together. And there is nothing better to bring people together than football."
74th FIFA Congress in Bangkok
Gianni Infantino also addressed the issue of racism in football, which will be a central theme of the upcoming 74th FIFA Congress in Bangkok, Thailand on 17 May 2024. It has already invited the six world football confederations to help draw up the overall strategy to be presented at the FIFA conference:
"We must be determined in this, as we must be determined in the fight against violence, the violence that exists in the world, that exists in football," added the FIFA president.
"And there we also have to act together with the governments, with the authorities, with the teams, with the players, all together, because going to a football match should be a party. It must be for joy, it is also a matter of educating our young people. It is a matter of political responsibility that we all have."
Manos Staramopoulos
Journalist and Analyst of International Football and Affairs
Chief Editor English Zone of Discoveryfootball.com
Athens (Greece)
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