UEFA accused Gianni Infantino of prioritizing “private political interests” after the president of FIFA proved late for the World Congress of the Manager in Paraguay.
Infantino participated in a diplomatic visit to the Middle East alongside American President Donald Trump and arrived two hours and 17 minutes after the start time scheduled at 10:30 am (2:30 p.m. BST) for the FIFA event.
Infantino said his trip before the congress had been crucial because he allowed him to “represent football” in “important discussions” with “the world leaders in politics and the economy”.
To protest against the arrival of the 55-year-old delay, the Swiss-Italian, the president of UEFA, Aleksander Ceferin, led a group of European delegates, joined by the president of the football association Debbie Hewitt, during the staging of an outing during a break during the event.
This meant that there were clearly empty seats at the Luque Center Center Center Center, on the outskirts of the Paraguayan capital of Asuncion, when the meeting resumed.
UEFA said in a press release that “last minute changes” during the hours were “deeply regrettable” but that “a point” should be done.
“The FIFA Congress is one of the most important meetings in world football, where every 211 nations of the world game come together to discuss the problems that affect sport around the world,” said the director of European football.
“So that the calendar has changed at the last minute for what seems to be simply to accommodate private political interests, the game does no service and seems to put its interests in second position.
“We are all in office to serve football, from the podium streets, and the FIFA council UEFA members felt the need on this occasion to argue that the game comes first and to leave as initially planned.”
