May 15 – FIFA’s 75th Congress is set to get started today in Asunción, Paraguay, with plenty of controversy already surrounding the event, which has been marred by the late arrival of FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
What should have been a relatively mundane gathering featuring committee elections and annual reports has been shoved into the spotlight.
Several factors including Infantino’s decision to arrive late in order to continue his ‘close friendship’ with US President Donald Trump at a meeting in the Middle East, the issue of Israeli settlement clubs in the West Bank and a scandal involving the host has all conspired to create a nervy situation.
The Congress will commence at 12.30pm local time today to facilitate the arrival of Infantino, a move that has led plenty in the Paraguayan capital to raise eyebrows. Last week, FIFA held a Council meeting online, shifting it away from Asunción because of Infantino’s Trump travels.
All the while, Council members and other senior FIFA officials have been holed up in CONMEBOL’s Bourbon Hotel in Luque at the confederation’s headquarters. They have done so in a city seemingly under siege: local media report that 5,000 security personnel, including the army and tanks, have been deployed to safeguard the ‘football family’. The streets have been dominated by military vehicles and soldiers with rifles.
It suggests that CONMEBOL President Alejandro Dominguez, who belongs to one of the most powerful families in Paraguay, wants nothing to go wrong. His confederation has been backing the idea of a 64-team World Cup, which has met opposition from UEFA, Concacaf and AFC. At home, he has been embroiled in a scandal, with accusations of trying to extort a businessman for $1.6million, according to Norwegian magazine Josimar.
The South American football boss has been avoiding the international media, a reflection of FIFA’s closed culture. Media access in the Paraguayan capital has been severely restricted to the point that journalists can now no longer carry out their vital function of reporting on and scrutinising the football family.
As all that carries on around the Congress, the event’s agenda remains rather low-key. The Palestine FA (PFA) have raised the issue of Israeli settlement clubs once again, but at the time of writing it is unclear whether Congress would in fact address the issue.
The event will see FIFA stage elections for the disciplinary committee, the ethics committee, the appeal committee, and the governance, audit and compliance committee.
In a circular, FIFA has proposed to elect the candidates ‘en bloc’. Rwanda’s Martin Ngoga will retain his Chair of the ethics committee and Bruno Chiemento will take over from India’s Mukul Mudgal as Chairman of the governance, audit and compliance committee. The pair, together with Dominguez, sit on FIFA’s compensation sub-committee, which decides on Infantino’s compensation package.
Infantino is expected to not stage a press conference in Paraguay. In a first, the FIFA boss skipped media duties last year following the Congress in Bangkok, Thailand.
Contact the writer of this story, Samindra Kunti, at moc.l1747323828labto1747323828ofdlr1747323828owedi1747323828sni@i1747323828tnuk.1747323828ardni1747323828mas1747323828