FIFA President Gianni Infantinoheld today (Saturday) the traditional press conference at the beginning of the tournament and responded to criticism from Western countries about the controversial existence of the tournament in Qatar due to human rights issues in the country.
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“They claim that we need to learn many lessons from the Western world, but we Europeans need to apologize to ourselves for what we have done in the last 3,000 years before we start giving moral lessons to others,” said FIFA President Infantino.
“Today I feel Qatari. Today I feel Arab. Today I feel African. Today I feel gay. Today I feel limited. Today I feel like a migrant worker,” said the FIFA president in front of a stunned audience, “What I saw brings me back to my personal story . I am the son of migrant workers. My parents worked very hard in certain situations.”
Infantino, who admitted things weren’t perfect, said some criticism was “deeply unjust” and accused critics of hypocrisy and double standards. He even claimed that progress had been made in Qatar on a variety of issues, but insisted that real change took time, adding that FIFA would not leave the country after the tournament. He suggested that he thought some Western journalists would forget about these issues later on.