Nicholas McGeehan
๐ค SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
What's really interesting here is the way in which FIFA has kind of backed itself into a corner.
And I know that Fairsquare has done some work on this.
So back in December, you filed an ethics complaint over Infantino and his repeated breaches of the political neutrality rules.
Can you just explain to us how FIFA have actually broken their own code of ethics in terms of neutrality?
Yeah, it's a pretty obvious breach, to be honest.
FIFA talks a lot about keeping sport and politics separate.
It's outlawed in the statutes and there's a provision in the Code of Ethics, I think it's Article 15, which basically says you're not allowed to take any political stance.
No senior official can do that.
Now, Infantino did it at least four times last year.
He expressed public support for Trump winning the Nobel Peace Prize.
He said in Miami in November that Trump was doing a good job and we should all get behind them.
You know, at the Peace Prize itself, he clearly expressed support for Trump.
So it's a...
It's not just a breach, it's repeated, egregious breaches of this provision.
According to the rules, he should be banned from football-related activity for two years.
It's not going to happen, obviously, because of the amount of power that he has.
But I don't think there's any question that he has hitched FIFA's wagon to the MAGA project in a way that is deeply problematic.
and not all that smart, as is being revealed now.
Is the FIFA Ethics Committee the committee that gave Trump the Peace Prize?
No.