FIFA president hits out at Qatar World Cup criticism in extraordinary speech

“Today, I feel Qatari. Today, I feel Arab. Today, I feel African. Today, I feel gay. Today, I feel disabled. Today, I feel a migrant worker.”

FIFA president Gianni Infantino gives an extraordinary press conference ahead of the opening of the Qatar World Cup.

“Of course I am not Qatari, I am not an Arab, I am not African, I am not gay, I am not disabled. But I feel like it, because I know what it means to be discriminated, to be bullied, as a foreigner in a foreign country. As a child I was bullied – because I had red hair and freckles, plus I was Italian so imagine. I went in my room and I cried”

“I feel for the FIFA and Supreme Committee staff. They want to deliver here. I am proud to have this FIFA sign on my jacket. It will be the best World Cup ever. Qatar is ready.

“Hundreds of thousands women and men from developing countries who’d like to offer their services abroad in order to help and give a future to their families back home. Qatar is actually offering them this opportunity. They come here, earn 10 times more than what they earn in their home country.

“For what we Europeans have been doing around the world in the last 3,000 years we should be apologising for the next 3,000 years before starting to give moral lessons to people.

“How many of these European or Western business companies who earn millions from Qatar, billions, how many of them have addressed migrant workers’ rights with the authorities?

“None of them, because if you change the legislation it means less profit. But we did, and FIFA generates much less than any of these companies from Qatar.”