Gianni Infantino is running for re-election at the FIFA Congress in Rwanda. Norway’s association president Lise Klaveness makes it clear: “We will not choose him.” Instead, she wants to speak again about human rights at the congress – and hopes for support from the DFB.
Infantino stands for re-election for the period from 2023 to 2027 unopposed at the congress on Thursday (March 16, 2023, 9 a.m.) in Rwanda’s capital Kigali. “We believe he missed many opportunities to really implement the changes he was elected to make”Klaveness said in an interview with the sports show.
“When he was elected he was very clear: transparency should be improved, human rights guidelines should be implemented, distance from states should be maintained. These would be good and necessary changes. But we saw in the Norwegian board that he missed a lot of opportunities has. We will not vote for him.”
There’s no doubting Infantino’s choice – global support is strong
There is no other candidate besides Infantino, the deadline for this expired on November 16, 2022. During the World Cup, Denmark’s head of the association, Jesper Möller Christensen, publicly speculated about an opponent in view of the posse about the “One Love” captain’s armbands – but the deadline had expired. “He is elected”Klaveness stated. “So of course we will do everything we can to help him improve.” She wanted to avert further polarization in FIFA.
Infantino came to power in 2016 after the FIFA scandal that ended the tenure of his predecessor Sepp Blatter in 2015. Infantino was re-elected for the first time in 2019. The FIFA Council recently made it clear that the statutes stipulate that the three-term limit applies, but that Infantino can still be re-elected from 2027 to 2031 because the three years after Blatter’s resignation were not a full term.
It is unlikely that the associations will actually vote. According to the FIFA Statutes, a single candidate may also be elected by acclamation, i.e. applause. That also happened with Infantino’s first re-election in 2019. Infantino’s support among the 211 member associations of FIFA is strong.
DFB President Neuendorf: “Don’t see any progress at FIFA”
DFB President Bernd Neuendorf spoke at the World Cup about “in opposition to FIFA” to stand. “We have a clear idea of what needs to happen, what FIFA needs to take a stand on”, said Neuendorf on Thursday (March 9th, 2023) on Deutschlandfunk. In Qatar, FIFA would have made commitments with a view to human rights. “We’ve already asked about that and we don’t see any progress at the moment, and of course we’re critical of that.” He has not yet publicly committed himself to voting.
Neuendorf is standing unopposed at the Congress for a post on the FIFA Council, taking over the remainder of the two-year term from the outgoing Peter Peters.
Norway calls for an agenda item on human rights and Qatar
The Norwegian association has the subject of human rights and the World Cup in Qatar for the congress put on the agenda. The following are required at the congress:
- A discussion of FIFA’s responsibility for workers’ compensation in relation to the World Cup in Qatar. Norway wants FIFA to undertake a transparent review. This is to determine whether FIFA has a responsibility and how it can fulfill it.
- A discussion on how FIFA should live up to its responsibilities in future tournaments. To this end, permanent and transparent compensation mechanisms for human rights violations in the context of tournament preparations are to be set up.
Klaveness: “We have to investigate the World Cup – we owe it to ourselves”
“We need the investigation”says Klaveness. “We owe it to ourselves and our own credibility.” Klaveness had already clearly addressed the issues of human rights and corruption at the congress in Doha in 2022. “It would be easy to get bored after the World Cup discussions to just move on and look the other way.”
It would also build an important bridge into the future of the tournaments, Klaveness said. “And I really hope that Germany and other countries will support us in this, because this is a matter close to our hearts.” Before the World Cup, the DFB had asked FIFA to set up a compensation fund.
Criticism from human rights organizations of FIFA and the previous compensation from Qatar
FIFA recently referred to the fact that compensation mechanisms exist and are being used by the Qatari government. The human rights organization Amnesty International criticizes that relatives of dead people cannot claim this, since many deaths have not been examined in detail, but a “natural death” has been determined in each case. There is therefore no right to compensation for this. Workers reported unpaid wages, improperly charged placement fees, or unworthy housing.