Fifa president Gianni Infantino channels his inner Donald Trump during angry 'fake news' congress rant
Infantino claimed Fifa's critics were spreading 'alternative facts' about the organisation
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Your support makes all the difference.Fifa president Gianni Infantino unleashed his inner Donald Trump at the organisation’s 67th congress, moaning that world football’s governing body had become the victim of “fake news”, with “Fifa bashing” countries propagating “alternative facts”.
The career sports administrator was addressing his second congress as president of the scandal-hit organisation, since taking over from the disgraced Sepp Blatter in 2015. Blatter was banned from the world body by Fifa’s ethics committee after a slew of corruption allegations made his position untenable.
Infantino says that Fifa has worked hard to rebuild its credibility after such controversies, but railed against the press and his critics in an extraordinary speech that made use of the same kind of rhetoric President Trump has become infamous for.
“Sadly, the truth is not what is necessarily true but what people believe is true. There is a lot of fake news and alternative facts about FIFA circulating,” he said. “FIFA bashing has become a national sport in some countries.
“We are trying to rebuild Fifa’s reputation after all that happened. We took over the organisation at its deepest point.”
The 47-year-old also took aim at those that have tried to reform Fifa in the past. The governing body has spent millions of pounds hiring experts to protect its damaged reputation and to reclaim funds from corrupt officials, but with limited success.
“In the past many highly-paid experts, paid millions, have been hired by Fifa to help reform Fifa,” Infantino, the 9th president of the organisation, said.
“Let me ask you, what did they do? They simply rubber stamped a sick and corrupt system.
“Where were all these self-proclaimed gurus and experts? They all miserably failed. I will, we will, not accept good governance lessons from any individuals who miserably failed to protect football.”
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