A CASE OF INCONFIDENCE

A CASE OF INCONFIDENCE

Nobody should be blamed for the family surname they inherit, but it seems that Gianna Infantino (born in Switzerland with an Italian father) has done his best to honour his - the very name indicates to others a tendency to infantilism. Like a demanding small child, he has acquired another new stain on his character. Almost nobody has confidence in him any more. Inconfidence is an affliction which often hits those over a certain age, especially those who feel they are above everyone else because they have risen to the top of the game with the inflated bladder. In this respect the head of FIFA has scored an Own Goal.

I confess I have minimal interest in the branch of the entertainment industry known as ‘’Professional Football’‘. In England it was said that Rugby Football was a game for ruffians but played by gentlemen, whereas Association Football - ‘’Soccer’‘ - was a game for gentlemen played by ruffians. Although my beloved Uncle Louis once took me as a child to watch Bradford Park Avenue play one drizzly autumnal weekend, my memories were wholly negative, of cold, damp, boredom and sore feet. My next time in a football stadium was when, as the local Rabbi, I was asked to take part in a joint interfaith Service of Remembrance for those 56 fans who had been burned to death in the stadium fire at Bradford City at Valley Parade in 1985 - even though this had been (of course) on a Shabbat afternoon, there was a well-founded belief that there would have been Jewish spectators amongst the dead and injured.

But these fans were, in the views of some, the lowest of the low - just ordinary chaps, working-class or middle-class, who actually liked to watch the eleven men of their beloved team playing the eleven men of another team, shouting abuse at the referee whenever they felt he deserved it (almost interruptedly, it seems) and who were actually prepared to PAY for this privilege, to take the time, to travel (sometimes long distances) and lay out their own money to buy tickets and do this, whatever the weather. How bizarre!

The next level up are those who devote their youth to practicing, training, pushing their bodies, hoping to be spotted by a scout, spending hours and days out in the drizzle kicking a ball and eventually, if they are fortunate, getting a contract to play for one team or another - it doesn’t really matter which, for if they are any good they will be bought by another one anyway and simply change the colour of their ‘strip’.

Those in charge knew that the true spirit of Football was to sit in comfort in the Directors’ Box or Board Room, drink cocktails, gossip about possible transfer fees and the percentages that could be squeezed out of them, whether they could get rid of the current trainer without paying too much compensation, calculate advertising revenues for posters and screens all over the stadium, the players’ shirts, shorts and (for all we know) underwear as well and, at higher levels of the Leagues, the issue of television broadcasting fees. Plus meeting and greeting many potentially-influential VSIPs (Very Self-Important People) who were gratified to be offered free tickets. All of this could be done - and usefully done - without even glancing out of the window at the pitch below.

I was curious and looked up Mr. Infantino on Wikipedia - (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gianni_Infantino ) and I find that he studied Law. ‘‘Infantino started working with the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) in August 2000 and was appointed as the Director of UEFA’s Legal Affairs and Club Licensing Division in January 2004. He became Deputy General Secretary of UEFA in 2007 and Secretary General of UEFA in October 2009 ....Infantino oversaw the expansion of UEFA Euro 2016 to 24 teams and played a role in the conception of the UEFA Nations League and the UEFA Euro 2020, which was intended to take place in 13 European nations before the number was reduced to 11’‘

‘’Alongside his career at UEFA, Infantino was a member of FIFA’s Reform Committee. On 26 October 2015, he received the backing of the UEFA Executive Committee to stand for the position of president in the 2016 FIFA Extraordinary Congress. On the same day, he confirmed his candidacy and submitted the required declarations of support. He promised to expand the FIFA World Cup to forty teams.

On 26 February 2016, he was elected FIFA President for a period of three years. …Shortly after his election in 2016, Infantino was named in documents released as part of the Panama Papers leak. The documents indicated that, while a senior legal official at UEFA, he had co-signed a television-rights contract with a company subsequently linked to defendants in the United States investigation into FIFA corruption, a relationship UEFA had previously denied. Infantino said that he was “dismayed” by the reports and stated that he had never personally dealt with the indicted parties.......

In July 2016, the investigatory chamber of FIFA’s ethics committee opened an examination into whether Infantino had breached the FIFA Code of Ethics. The chamber concluded that no violation had occurred. Infantino was the subject of a prolonged affair in Switzerland concerning undisclosed meetings he held with the Attorney General of Switzerland, Michael Lauber, and the Valais prosecutor Rinaldo Arnold in 2016 and 2017, while Lauber’s office was investigating corruption in international football.

On 10 January 2017, the Fifa Council unanimously approved the expansion, with the 48-team format introduced at the 2026 FIFA World Cup........

He was re-elected as FIFA President during the 69th FIFA Congress on 5 June 2019 as the only candidate. In July 2019, Infantino proposed an expansion of the FIFA Women’s World Cup from 24 to 32 teams, starting with the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, and doubling the tournament’s prize money following the success of the 2015 and 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cups, which after increasing from 16 to 24 teams set an attendance record for all non World Cup FIFA competitions. On 31 July, the FIFA Council unanimously decided to expand the tournament to 32 teams, featuring eight groups of four to mirror the World Cup format...’‘ and so on ...

To Finance: ‘’Under Infantino, FIFA’s revenues have more than doubled; for the 2027–2030 cycle the organisation is projected to generate $14 billion, of which $2.7 billion, or about 20 percent, is to be redistributed to national associations through the “FIFA Forward” development programme...’‘ (I cannot see what happens to the other 80%)

‘’When questioned about abuses suffered by migrant workers involved in preparations for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, Infantino said that migrant workers were given work and pay and were proud to contribute to constructing the stadiums. Infantino also charged Western countries with “hypocrisy” for criticising Qatar on moral grounds in relation to issues regarding human rights related to migrant workers, LGBTQ individuals, and women...’‘

I will spare the latest excitements of summer 2026. But the pattern is clear.

What I cannot find, here or elsewhere, is any reference that he has ever actually played football or even touched a football!!

There is, I feel, little one needs to add. A Swiss/Italian lawyer and manager has managed to dominate an international, no a global organisation for ten years now despite many indications that not everything is wholly above board at the Board. A smart man in a smart suit, he plays in dark grey strip and he wins every tournament without ever getting muddy - indeed, unlike most professional footballers, no mud sticks to him at all.

I think I will continue not to go to football games. If I say this ‘‘in confidence’’….. The amounts involved make me giddy.

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