Accustomed to attending very high-level meetings since he presided over the international football federation (Fifa) and to brand new stadiums under the sun since he decided to reside in Qatar, Gianni Infantino will this Saturday sprain to his rich habits. According to Ouest-France, the boss of world football will brave the weather and settle this Saturday afternoon in the dilapidated Roudourou stadium for the match between Guingamp and the undisputed leader of the L2, Toulouse.
Infantino did not discover a sudden passion for the French Ligue 2 or for the beautiful Toulouse game. He responds to the invitation of Noël Le Graët, the president of the French Federation and long-time patron of the small Guingamp club. The boss of Fifa will come completely as a friend as Le Graët almost never misses the opportunity to praise her publicly.
The two men have liked each other for a long time. Noël Le Graët has been a member of the Fifa Council since March 2020. He serves in particular as a relay or passman between Infantino and Aleksander Ceferin, President of UEFA. If the president of the FFF readily claims to be on the left, he nevertheless gave sometimes surprising support to the ultraliberal measures desired by Infantino. For example, he had not opposed the idea of a World Cup every two years. A measure whose financial interest, however, appeared much more obvious than the humanist motivations with which some of its thurifers wanted to coat it. In the end, this project was nevertheless dismissed at the last FIFA congress.
Regarding the very controversial choice of Qatar for the 2022 World Cup, Le Graët also flew to the aid of Fifa after the group draw ceremony last week. “The Qataris have made a lot of efforthe explained. The Arab countries are also extremely happy (via Qatar) to receive this competition. The country has made enormous progress at the social level, by establishing a guaranteed minimum wage for employees (Editor’s note: the equivalent of 240 euros). You can’t always compare to France, which has been a democracy for a long time. And mixing people is a good thing. »
Also unsurprisingly, the Breton had applauded Infantino’s intention to run for a third term at the head of Fifa. ” I am delighted because I have esteem for him, he blurted. He worked a lot. In addition, he moved to Paris (where Fifa has opened a branch). Dso he will be with us from time to time. I am very happy that he is running again, he is a good president. »
It was only on the issue of Russia’s exclusion from the next World Cup because of the war in Ukraine that the two presidents had a slight disagreement. In our columns, Le Graët had given his agreement in principle while Infantino, more political and cynical than a humanist at the time, had procrastinated for a long time.
But not enough to prevent Gianni Infantino from discovering the joys of Roudourou on Saturday.