Gianni Infantino, the FIFA president says he is open to hosting a World Cup in North Korea in an attempt to unite the world. Infantino has given a lengthy speech while the controversial World Cup in Qatar is still in progress, hitting back at the criticism for empathizing with minority groups and accusing the hypocrisy of western media.
Infantino is about to be re-elected for the third term and he said that FIFA is a world football organization. According to him, they are not politicians and not football people. So, they are looking to bring people together.
He also said that any country can host the World Cup event. Thus, if North Korea plans to host something, they can. Infantino stated he has been to North Korea a few years back to ask the North Koreans if they had been ready to host the World Cup for Women in South Korea. Even though he had not been successful but he can go another 100 times if it helps.
Just engagement is going to bring real change. According to him, FIFA is a global organization that aims to unite the world. South Korea and Japan co-hosted World Cup 2002 but North Korea hasn’t ever hosted this football tournament. North Korea is one of the most secretive states and it has enhanced its missile testing across the divided Korean peninsula.
Previously, Infantino had told all competing countries to focus on football but used the news conference for defending Qatar and talked about ‘understanding’ various beliefs.