Show Notes
Sinead and Gavin discuss the Fifa president: where did he come from and how long does he plan to stick around?
Infantino was elected as Fifa president in February 2016. He showed a supposedly new, more humble version of Fifa when he flew EasyJet to an IFAB meeting in the UK, saying “We are normal people and we have to behave like normal people.”
He now travels on a private jet provided to him by Qatar. And Fifa recently requested a motorcade escort for their annual congress in Vancouver similar to the kind usually reserved for the Pope or the US president.
Why has the head of a sporting body come to regard himself as worthy of such a show of deference? Does the Fifa presidency essentially guarantee a level of hubris, as the occupier of the office becomes further and further detached from the real world in which 99% of football supporters live?
Can steps be taken to assure greater accountability for those in the role? Or are we destined to have a succession of egotistical characters speaking on behalf of the global game, while those who play, watch and love the sport roll their eyes? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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