After the whirlwind of his election on 26 February, new FIFA President Gianni Infantino stepped officially into his role three days later on the first of many Mondays at the Home of FIFA.
To mark his first day in the office, he sat down for an interview as he began life in Zurich to discuss his views on the format of the FIFA World Cup™, the use of technology in football to his relationship with the beautiful game as a fan.
FIFA.com: We could see how emotional it was for you when you were announced as the new FIFA President. What was the first thought that came into your head right there and then?
Gianni Infantino: I think haven’t realised it completely yet. It was just… a mix. All the emotions that a human being can feel at the same time. I felt them all: happiness, pride, responsibility… The weight of the task you’re embarking on, but also the passion and the energy to do the right thing. So, really, just imagine everything you can imagine at the same time in the same second, to the point you don’t think of anything. You just feel. It was about emotion, like football should be.
Speaking of which, you are renowned as someone who has worked in football for years, but what about Gianni the football fan? How much importance did the game have for you, growing up?
The football virus was injected into me when I was a kid, from my parents and my father in particular. I was a crazy football fan, following my team all over the place. I remember when I said, “I’m going to a game”, I’d prepare myself wearing jeans and the worst shirt I had. Now, when I sit to watch a game I have to wear a jacket and a tie. I think we need to change that and as leaders of the game we need to become a little bit more like fans and less like politicians. If we remember that we all started out as football fans, the game will become much better.
When you played regularly what was your position on the field?
I was normally on the bench – and you saw me during our match on Monday [29 February], so you know why! [laughs] Anyway, I liked to play as a striker, only I didn’t score many goals. In the end, I was really only playing because my mother was the one washing the shirts of my local team. This helped me to get a few minutes from time to time, when our team was already leading and I couldn’t cause too much damage. But still I had lots of fun playing when I was young, as I do now.
What about your relationship with the FIFA World Cup? What are your first memories?
My very first memory is 1978. I was eight years old and I started to watch it on TV with my father. I remember [Daniel] Bertoni and [Mario] Kempes in the final against the Netherlands. I remember the Italian national team, which started quite well with Paolo Rossi, Antonio Cabrini, new players. Then obviously the 1982 World Cup, when Italy won, was quite an experience for a 12-year-old boy. And I see this same passion now, I saw it during the 2014 World Cup. Switzerland is a very international country, so when you take your kids to school in the morning you have all the mothers, fathers and kids speaking about their teams – the English, the Algerians, the Swiss, the Germans. In these circumstances we see the importance of the World Cup, and we must never forget this. We must always protect this competition.
I love the game. I know what it means to travel week in week out to go and watch your favourite team.
Gianni Infantino
And what specific ideas do you have for the FIFA World Cup?
It’s no secret that I believe in increasing the World Cup to 40 teams. Forty teams is only 19 per cent of the FIFA membership, so it’s not that many compared to the continental final tournaments, which gather between 30 per cent and 100 per cent of affiliated teams. We give eight more countries the opportunity to participate, but many more countries the possibility to dream of participating; to play the qualifiers in a very solid way. Of course there are issues that we need to analyse and discuss.
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