FIFA President Gianni InfantinoGETTY IMAGES
The World Cup "has helped changed people’s view of Russia," FIFA President Gianni Infantino told an audience at an event in Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre on Saturday, standing alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber of REUTERS. Infantino said that the tournament transformed "the perception that the world has about Russia." He added, "We did a good job together." Putin responeded in English, "Thank you, Mr. President, for your kind words." Putin told an audience of former football players including Brazil’s Ronaldo and Marcel Desailly as well as Russian government officials that he was "sad that the tournament was almost over but he also noted that it had helped improve the country’s image." Putin: "We cannot help but feel sad that this spectacular football festival, which had given us so many happy moments, vivid impressions and new friends, is almost over. Myths and stereotypes have been dispelled" (REUTERS, 7/14).
'SPORTSWASHING?': The AP's Rob Harris reported when Infantino is in the orbit of Putin, the head of world football "cannot stop beaming," particularly when he is "juggling a ball in the Kremlin or sharing screen time with Putin as they watched the World Cup." Two years after his election, Infantino "gives the impression of a man" who cannot believe "the elevated circles of power he is allowed to mix in." Human Rights Watch refers to using a major sports event to "cleanse the image of a nation and gloss over wrongdoing" as "sportswashing." Cooperation with a government "is necessary for the smooth-running of a sports event." But "just where should a sport governing body draw moral red lines over the extent it burnishes a head of state with praise?" Infantino: "There are many things we would like to change in the world, there are many things we are not happy that happen in the world. Not in one country. Not in one region. Not in one area but in the entire world. We have all to try to work, to do, to speak, try to make things change for the good wherever we can" (AP, 7/14).
SETTING THE STANDARD: ESPN.com reported Infantino said that the presence of European teams in the World Cup semifinals "should be a sign to other regions that they need to improve." Uruguay and Brazil were the only two non-European nations to advance to the quarterfinals, with the last remaining CONCACAF team, Mexico, knocked out by Brazil in the round of 16. That all four semifinalists were from Europe and that no South American nation has ever won the tournament on European soil "should motivate other confederations to invest in themselves," Infantino said. He added, "We have now a final this time where we have one team that has won the World Cup once [in France] and one team that's never won the World Cup [in Croatia], and I don't think that Croatia is necessarily a powerhouse of world or European football as a country, right? But they are in the final." Infantino "stressed that the quality of the players in the European countries was a difference-maker." He said, "So, at the end, there are little elements which make a difference, but I think that the results of this World Cup for the other continents outside of Europe -- well, it should be a catalyst and a motivator for them to work even harder, to train, to invest in training" (ESPN.com, 7/13).
