Fifa president Gianni Infantino has clocked 50,000 km on a private jet during the World Cup group stages.
By Sam Kunti
Fifa president Gianni Infantino has called the World Cup group stages ‘crazy’ and ‘epic’. During the first round of the tournament, which ended on Saturday, 27 June, the football official's carbon footprint had been just that - crazy and epic: Infantino racked up 50,000 kilometres - or flying more than once around the earth.
The Fifa president kicked off the World Cup with the opening game between co-hosts Mexico and South Africa at the Azteca Stadium. There, Conmebol president Alejandro Dominguez, wearing sun glasses and swaying his hips and shoulders slightly from side to side, embraced the Fifa president, calling the tournament “a new football party”. South African Football Association president Danny Jordaan, under investigation for fraud at home, looked on, somewhat bewildered.
The closeness Infantino and Dominguez share is controversial. Last month, the New York Times reported that the South American football boss is facing an ethics complaint at Fifa for receiving payments recovered from FifaGate. In the wake of the 2015 scandal, the US Department of Justice awarded the world governing body 201 million dollars as a victim. That vicinity between Fifa officials and Dominguez is not unusual. At last month’s Champions League final in Budapest, Mattias Grafström, Fifa’s number two and general secretary, and the Conmebol president were cosy...
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