But Infantino stood by Qatar’s side. In a speech delivered on the eve of that World Cup, he accused the tournament’s critics, particularly those from European and Western countries, of “racism” and “hypocrisy.” And, in an attempt at solidarity, he declared: “Today, I feel Qatari. Today, I feel Arab. Today, I feel African. Today, I feel gay. Today, I feel disabled. Today, I feel migrant worker.” Later, when reminded of a group he’d forgotten, he added: “I feel like a woman too!”
It was an unusual message, but a clear one: Infantino was with his suite mates.
Which is what made his companion at a World Cup match last month such a surprise. It was Norway against Côte d’Ivoire, and right there next to him in an executive box at the palatial home of the Dallas Cowboys was Lise Klaveness, the president of the Norwegian Football Federation. Like Putin and bin Salman at those previous tournaments, she was there to watch her national team in action. Unlike those two, she’s a gay former professional midfielder with a lengthy record as an outspoken critic of FIFA.
“World Cups were awarded by FIFA in unacceptable ways with unacceptable consequences,” she told the 72nd FIFA Congress in Doha less than eight months before the 2022 tournament was set to kick off in town. The line referenced FIFA’s process for delivering the World Cup to both Qatar and Russia, part of what the US Department of Justice alleged was a sprawling culture of corruption in football governance under Infantino predecessor Sepp Blatter. (Ahead of one FIFA presidential election, some voters allegedly were given manila envelopes full of $100 bills.) Klaveness also used the speech to call on FIFA to provide relief for migrant workers, saying that those who were injured or family members of those who died “must be cared for.”
It was astonishingly direct stuff for the go-along-get-along world of international football. “The way FIFA has always worked,” says Mark Pieth, a Swiss governance expert and former FIFA official, “is if there is pushback or whatever, it is discussed outside [the] chambers.” And it was coming from an openly lesbian mother of three, standing in a country where it’s a crime to be gay. She’d been in office for just 24 days.
The Soccer King
As president of FIFA, Infantino has taken his mandate to maintain good relations with “political bodies” as an invitation to blast himself into the orbit of world leaders, regardless of whether they uphold FIFA’s expressed values. Putin awarded him a state honor in 2019, the year after Russia hosted what Infantino described as the “best World Cup ever,” while FIFA sponsor Qatar Airways, owned by the Qatari government, has provided Infantino with access to a private jet to facilitate his relentless travels, including those in North America this summer. Infantino’s defenders say that it’s his job to ingratiate himself with decision-makers in host countries in order to get what he needs to stage a successful tournament, and he’s certainly done his best with a key player in the 2026 edition.
