Gianni Infantino urges people to ‘chill’ and put faith in FIFA at World Cup

TODAY I FEEL CHILL: Gianni Infantino speaks to the media during a FIFA World Cup 2026 Opening Press Conference at Mexico City Stadium. Pic: Carl Recine/Getty Images.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino urged people to “chill” and put their faith in his organisation that it was doing its best to tackle visa issues impacting the World Cup.

Referee Omar Artan was denied entry to the United States earlier this week, with FIFA later confirming he would play no part in the tournament.

On the eve of the opening game in Mexico City, Infantino, who also gave a strident defence of ticket prices, said: “It was unfortunate what happened with the referee from Somalia.

“Again, we don’t control everything. We tried to discuss, we speak. Sometimes it’s good as well just to chill, relax.

“We try to solve everything, (but) screaming and shouting, that’s the opposite of finding a solution.

“We try always to find solutions (but) we are not the kings of the world who can rule over governments, police forces. We are an organisation with the means we have to make as much as possible.” The BBC pushed him on his comment about “chilling”, with Infantino adding: “In 2035 I think the Women’s World Cup will be in (the) UK.

“Would you find it normal that FIFA would dictate to the British Government who to let in the country and who not to let in the country? I don’t know, maybe you find it normal.

“Our world is a very aggressive world and security goes above everything. You need to respect the decisions.

“When is say ‘chill’, I don’t mean ‘chill and do nothing’, I mean to trust us.

“We always try to make the situation as positive as possible and find solutions. Sometimes we manage, sometimes we do not.” Infantino clearly expected questions around the price of tickets to come up and spoke at length about it in his opening remarks.

He defended the entry price of 60 US dollars (£45) – which he said covered 130,000 tickets out of around 6.5 million on sale – saying that compared favourably with American sports at the play-off phase.

He added: “If we were like everyone else in football is now, selling our TV rights on pay TV like everyone else, then billions of people wouldn’t have access.

“We will generate four times more revenues and we will give the tickets probably for free. They will still enter the black market and the secondary market and be sold for thousands of dollars. We have to strike a balance.

“It is my statutory responsibility to generate the income which allows FIFA to invest in all of these (211 member) countries.” He also said he was “relaxed” about legal challenges to FIFA’s approach to pricing, saying the organisation had sought extensive legal advice before going to market.

FIFA has faced negative headlines around Iran this week, with some of its federation officials denied US visas and the federation claiming FIFA had revoked an allocation of tickets given to it for its matches, which start with a game against New Zealand in Los Angeles on Monday.

Infantino hailed FIFA’s work in getting Iran to play in the finals, which seemed unlikely in the extreme after the US and Israel began bombing Iran in February and Iran responded by attacking US military bases in the Middle East.

“I don’t know who else would have been able to ensure (their participation) in these circumstances,” he said.

He recalled a visit to see Iran play in Turkey in March, and added: “I promised them they would come and if I had to go with a bus to Tehran, I would do that.”