August 17 – Another weekend, another member of FIFA’s staff rolled out to stand fully behind FIFA president Gianni Infantino and his ‘innocense’ campaign, a public relations push that is threatening to become the football PR campaign to end all football PR campaigns by a sitting FIFA president.
This time it is the governing body’s general secretary, Fatma Samoura, who not only speaks for herself but the whole world of football when she says: “The world football is strongly united behind the FIFA President. To hear all of them expressing total and unconditional support to the FIFA President is certainly heart-warming.”
Samoura’s observations came from attending 25 virtual meetings during which Infantino spoke to the presidents of 180 national associations.
Even taking into account the presumption of innocence, clearly for 180 presidents to be so fulsomely supportive of Infantino in his hour of need in the face of criminal investigations makes one wonder that, even after the raids by the FBI and the Swiss police in May 2015, whether they have fully grasped the concept or seriousness of the definition ‘criminal investigation’.
Perhaps prosecutors should be taking a look at them as well or at least someone explain to these presidents that this investigation isn’t the equivalent of an unpaid speeding ticket. The message sent in 2015 does not seem to have got through to football’s national leaders if Samoura is to be believed.
Samoura said that the Swiss case was not considered a big issue among the national associations.
“There is clearly a strong feeling among FIFA member associations that under President Infantino, FIFA is by far a more transparent, accountable and especially better governed institution,” she said.
This could be great news as presumably it means that there will be full disclosure of what the undocumented and unremembered meetings Infantino had with Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber were about, why he took it upon himself to hold these meetings and not leave them to his qualified legal staff, and why significant incentives were given to Infantino’s pals to put the meetings together.
“The general opinion was that President Infantino will come out stronger from this difficult moment. Almost no question was asked about the investigation,” she said.
At last, public acknowledgement of a “difficult moment”. At least FIFA’s members are showing him some well-earned (read paid for) love.
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