FIFA president Gianni Infantino favours ending Russia ban
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FIFA president Gianni Infantino (second from left) and Debbie Hewitt (third from left), chairwoman of England's Football Association, before the final of the inaugural FIFA Women's Champions Cup at the Emirates Stadium on Feb 1, when Arsenal beat Corinthians 3-2. after extra time.
PHOTO: REUTERS
LONDON – Gianni Infantino, president of world football’s governing body FIFA, said he supports the reinstatement of Russia and called for an end to the country’s four-year exclusion from international tournaments.
FIFA barred Russia from competition 2026 edition to be held this summer
Infantino said the ban has been fruitless in an interview with Sky Sports that took place in London over the weekend. His first desire is to have Russia’s youth teams reinstated.
“We have to (look at reinstating Russia), definitely, because this ban has not achieved anything. It has just created more frustration and hatred,” he said. “Having girls and boys from Russia being able to play football games in other parts of Europe would help.”
European governing body UEFA’s executive committee, whose next quarterly meeting takes place on Feb 11 in Brussels, Belgium, has the authority to reinstate Russia. But UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin has maintained that the war in Ukraine needs to end for that to happen.
In 2023, UEFA briefly planned to let Russia compete in European Under-17 Championship qualifying, citing a desire not to punish children for their government actions. They relented and upheld the ban after a dozen national federations threatened to boycott matches against Russia.
At the senior men’s level, Russia has been limited to participating in friendlies, most recently in November when they drew 1-1 with Peru and lost 2-0 to Chile at home.
Infantino also told Sky Sports that his opposition to bans is unreserved and FIFA should “enshrine in our statutes that we should actually never ban any country from playing football because of the acts of their political leaders”.
Meanwhile, the Swiss-Italian defended his controversial decision to award the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize to US President Donald Trump. Infantino was widely criticised for giving Mr Trump the honour on behalf of his governing body at the 2026 World Cup draw in Washington in December.
The move drew further scrutiny after US forces seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro his desire to acquire Greenland for national security reasons
However, Infantino insisted that the US President was deserving of the prize, telling Sky News: “Objectively, he deserves it.
“Whatever we can do to help peace in the world, we should be doing it, and for this reason, for some time we were thinking we should do something to reward people who do something.” REUTERS, AFP
