Hundreds of delegates have from all over the world to the FIFA Congress in Paraguay’s capital Asunción opened. The host was not there for the planned start and lets the guests wait for hours.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino Already missed the banquet with Paraguay’s President on Wednesday evening Santiago Peña. He had invited to dinner and spent, for example, with the President of the Confederations such as UEFA boss Aleksander Ceferin.
The FIFA Congress was originally supposed to be located at 9.30 a.m. on Thursday in Asunción start. But the beginning was initially moved by an hour, then came one e-mail to the delegates: because of “unforeseen circumstances” If the congress is laid to 12.30 p.m. (5:30 p.m. CEST), but lunch should take place at 11.30 a.m. The circumstances: Infantino is still on the way back from the Middle East.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino (left) in Doha with US President Donald Trump and Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani
State visit with Trump at the expense of punctuality
He was there with US President Donald Trump Traveled to the United Arab Emirates, to Qatar and Saudi Arabia more precisely. It is about business, the maintenance of contact in the highest political circles of the countries involved is infantino currently more important than the congress. Because while FIFA is organizing the new large club World Cup 2025 and large parts of the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Saudi Arabia will host the 2034 World Cup. In addition, FIFA has recently concluded important sponsorship contracts with state companies in the Gulf States. Most recently, Infantino showed himself alongside Trump.
But he missed the planned start of the FIFA congress. An unprecedented process. Usually there are events and discussions in the days before the congress. A meeting of the FIFA Council had already brought Infantino forward on Friday of the previous week and held digitally. Hundreds of delegates from all over the world had made their way to Asunción, have been in Paraguay since the beginning of the week and then initially waited in vain for the host.
“The FIFA Congress is the highest legislative organ of FIFA”the world association describes the congress: “Once a year, the member associations of FIFA meet there to agree on the further development of football worldwide.” The business appointments apparently went to Infantino. A plane of the private jet fleet of Qatar Airways After a stopover to refuel in Nigeria on Thursday, Infantino brought the congress relocated for his presence. Infantino was particularly in Brazilian airspace, while the delegates of the associations such as DFB President Bernd Neuendorf were waiting for him.
Important bodies are newly filled
The congress offers an important choice this time: the FIFA ethics committee is newly elected. FIFA has not yet published the list of candidates. Also the disciplinary chamber, the Chamber of Appeal and the Commission for Governance, audit and compliance are newly elected.
The latter is probably in the most controversial day of the order: The Palestinian Football Association continues to sanction the Israeli association and wants to force the commission to force their report in the Congress to conclude their report to a possible illegal Israeli game in settlement areas in the West Bank. Only then can the FIFA Council make a decision about sanctions.