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And thus Gianni descended from the mountain once again, dressed in The Official Fifa Uniform of navy suit, white adidas trainers and bland, supercilious smile.
He also turned up an hour late.
Yesterday’s was Infantino’s second press event of the World Cup, having opened the tournament with Whatever The Hell That Was. He has otherwise been encased in his ivory tower, helicoptered to every game of the tournament, mingling with diplomats and autocrats and, yes, still Salt Bae.
Salt Bae and Gianni: One has built a reputation on steaks, the other is happy to stake his reputation on anything.
You might have thought Gianni’s going to bat for Qatar on the opening day was a risk but, no, as it turns out, everything is great. Better than grand. Wonderful. Magnificent. The best-ever.
Gianni was late as he came from a meeting of the Fifa Council, and he opened his press conference by stressing that meeting’s “unanimous praise” for the World Cup, which he described as the best-ever. (Observers as lightly seasoned as one of Salt Bae’s steaks will remember he described Putin’s World Cup as the best-ever.)
Fifa confirmed that Fifa’s World Cup has been a great success. No crowd trouble. A TV audience approaching five billion people. An average attendance of 52,760. Huge revenues.
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Gianni said Fifa have made 7.5 billion in the last four years, a billion more than expected. The next cycle ahead of the 2026 World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico is expected to yield 11 billion. He didn’t actually clarify which currency he was talking about, but hey, what did it matter.
Come and take a walk around my numbers…
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