'Today I feel Qatari, today I feel gay': Infantino turns on World Cup critics in bizarre press conference

FIFA President Gianni Infantino speaks at a press conference in Doha, Qatar on Saturday. [AP/YONHAP]

FIFA President Gianni Infantino accused critics of the Qatar World Cup of hypocrisy and racism in a bizarre rambling hour-long press conference on Saturday.

Infantino started his speech in Doha, Qatar by appearing to suggest that as the child of Italian immigrants growing up in Switzerland, he understood the experience of migrant workers and other minorities in Qatar. International media investigations put the number of deaths among migrant workers building facilities for the Qatar World Cup at around 6,500, although Infantino has previously claimed the number is actually three.

“Today I feel Qatari,” he said. “Today I feel Arabic. Today I feel African. Today I feel gay. Today I feel disabled. Today I feel a migrant worker.

“Of course I am not Qatari, I am not an Arab, I am not African, I am not gay, I am not disabled. But I feel like it, because I know what it means to be discriminated [against], to be bullied, as a foreigner in a foreign country. As a child I was bullied — because I had red hair and freckles, plus I was Italian, so imagine.”

Infantino went on to rally against critics of Qatar’s human rights record, saying that western nations were in no position to criticize the Middle Eastern country.

“We have been told many, many lessons from some Europeans, from the western world,” he said. “I think for what we Europeans have been doing the last 3,000 years we should be apologizing for the next 3,000 years before starting to give moral lessons to people.”

Infantino insisted that LGBTQ rights would be protected at the Qatar World Cup.

“They have confirmed and I can confirm that everyone is welcome,” he said. “If you have a person here and there who says the opposite, it’s not the opinion of the country, it’s certainly not the opinion of FIFA.

“You want to stay at home and say how bad they are, these Arabs, these Muslims, because it’s not allowed to be publicly gay. I believe it should be allowed. But it is a process. If someone thinks that hammering and criticizing will achieve something, well I can tell you it will be exactly the opposite. It will close more doors.”

Infantino also downplayed the Qatari government’s 11th-hour decision last Friday to ban beer from stadiums, despite organizers having repeatedly promised that would not happen and Budweiser having paid a $75-million sponsorship deal that presumably included the right to sell its beer in World Cup facilities.

“If this is the biggest issue we have for the World Cup then I will resign immediately and go to the beach to relax,” he said. “I think if for three hours a day you cannot drink a beer, you will survive.”

Infantino’s speech has been widely condemned by human rights groups.

“Gianni Infantino is dismissing the enormous price paid by migrant workers to make his flagship tournament possible — as well as FIFA’s responsibility for it,” Amnesty International said in a statement. “Demands for equality, dignity and compensation cannot be treated as some sort of culture war — they are universal human rights that FIFA has committed to respect in its own statutes.”

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]