FIFA boss Gianni Infantino does not regret the choice to partly organize the World Cup in the United States, he experiences no problems with match ticket prices, and people who are concerned about the problems at the US border should “chill”, relax, and understand that FIFA is doing its best to solve it. The director of the World Football Association said this on Wednesday evening (Dutch time). press conference in Mexico City, on the eve of the opening match of the World Cup.
Infantino noted that three topics have received a lot of attention in the media recently: “Iran, visas and tickets.” For example, the Iranian team had to move its home base to Mexico and FIFA suddenly withdrew match tickets for Iranian supporters. Somali referee Omar Artan, who is considered the best referee in Africa and who was supposed to referee a match in the United States, did not enter that country on Monday. And at the end of May, the prosecutors of the American states of New York and New Jersey announced an investigation into FIFA, alleging that the football association had increased ticket prices disproportionately and misled supporters.
Embarrassed
The Swiss himself would rather talk about football, but he was forced to discuss the painful topics anyway. About Iran, the Swiss said he was “very happy” that the country was taking part in the tournament despite the war with the US, and he thanked the governments of the three host countries, which he said made this possible.
When asked by a BBC journalist whether FIFA had been embarrassed by the Trump administration’s undermining of the promise that everyone would be welcome, Infantino responded negatively. If a World Cup were to be organized in Great Britain, the football boss told the BBC journalist, it would also be considered normal for the British government to decide who could and could not enter the country.
Infantino: “It is not easy to screen three hundred thousand accredited people, the majority of whom come from outside the US.” Unfortunately, our world is “very aggressive,” said Infantino, and “safety comes first.”
High ticket prices
Infantino also rejected the accusation that FIFA charges unreasonably high prices for World Cup tickets. According to him, the demand for tickets has never been higher, “ten times as much as ever before.” Nevertheless, the cheapest entrance fee is sixty dollars, and the average price is about five hundred dollars. According to Infantino, this is “lower than other sporting events in this part of the world.” “We have our choices checked by the best lawyers, the best experts. If we do something wrong, then everyone who sells tickets in North America is probably doing something wrong.”
In addition, FIFA makes it possible for six billion people to watch matches on television for free, Infantino said. “If we did it like the rest of the football world and sold our TV rights to commercial broadcasters, we would generate four times as much revenue and probably give the tickets away for free.”
Moreover, the FIFA president said, it is important that FIFA invests “in all countries where no one else wants to invest.” “Who invests in South Sudan? Who invests in Sierra Leone? Who invests in Bhutan, East Timor or Vanuatu? Nobody. We do, and we do that thanks to the income we generate.”
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Somali referee denied entry to US