Fifa president Gianni Infantino has spoken to media on the eve of the 2026 World Cup, in his first news conference since 2023
According to BBC Sport, he spoke on several common topics surrounding the tournament:
- On Iran – ‘I am very happy we managed to get Iran to come and play’
- On ticket prices – Cheaper tickets would have been sold on ‘black market’
- On Somali referee Omar Artan not being allowed entry to the US – ‘Unfortunate what happened to referee – it’s good to chill and relax’
Infantino is quoted as saying, “It’s not easy when you have 300,000 accredited people, majority of which from outside of the US, to process them to vet them, you don’t know. Unfortunately, our world is a very aggressive world and security goes above everything and you need to respect the decisions which are taken and when I say to chill, I don’t mean to chill and do nothing. I mean to trust us, that we are working behind the scenes, we are trying to understand and there are things we can know, things we cannot know, things we are told, not told.”
He also insists there are no regrets in choosing the USA as a host, saying, “No, I don’t regret anything. I have been organising events for the last 30 years. I am used to dealing with issues. The press conference I made you all remember that. The issues there were different, probably bigger. I was feeling I had to give a voice to all those unheard. There are issues; it’s normal for an event of this magnitude.”
