Gianni Infantino: A Threat to Football?
- Details
- Created: Monday, 15 April 2019 23:22
- Written by Darren Douglas
It has been a little over 3 years since Gianni Infantino became the 9th president of FIFA, on February 26th 2016. At the time there was a general air of hope and relief about his appointment, not so much because of his own campaign to become the leader of world football, but more because his predecessor, Sepp Blatter, had become such a toxic and disparaged figure.
As a result, Infantino was blessed with a relatively long honeymoon period, whilst most of those invested in football were simply thankful that Blatter was no more. Back to the present and Infantino is due to win a 2nd term as president when the 69th FIFA congress convenes on June 5th, in Paris. Not because he's done a great job, but because there will be no candidates to oppose him. Is this welcome? I'm unconvinced, Infantino may not be corrupt (as it stands) but here's why some of his key decisions are a threat to football...
Last month 90 Minutes Online got around to organising a 1st football away day for the 2018/19 season, and this time it was the turn of Swindon Town and The County Ground. Once again, we got to experience a football stadium that we hadn't visited before, plus of course the all-important pre and post match rituals...
On August 5th 2018, Pep Guardiola added another new trophy to his personal honours list. Yes it was 'only' the Community Shield, and yes it is dismissed every season as a 'glorified friendly', but then again it is a piece of silverware, and one that takes a lot of effort to be eligible to compete for. It was also, memorably, a competition that José Mourinho described as being the 1st instalment in the Manchester United 'treble-winning' season of 2016/17...
After all the build up and anticipation, the 2018 World Cup is well and truly underway and has already provided some surprise results. The first 4 days of the World Cup were a great spectacle for England fans, they witnessed the holders (Germany) lose to Mexico, Brazil and Argentina having unconvincing draws with Switzerland and Iceland respectively, plus France getting a little lucky to defeat Australia 2-1. Spain and Portugal did produce the most spectacular game we've had up to this point, but neither team could land the killer blow in another draw.