The Guardian · US news · Original story
Infantino plays the hits as Fifa’s defender-in-chief on eve of World Cup | Pablo Iglesias Maurer
The Fifa president’s monologue before the 2022 World Cup attained legendary status for all the wrong reasons. He was in familiar form four years on
Gianni Infantino’s speech on the eve of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is the stuff of legend. You know the one – the rambling, hour-long monologue where he told us all how he felt. He felt gay that day. He also felt disabled, Qatari, Arab, African and like a migrant worker. In doing so, the Fifa president engraved himself permanently into meme culture, and his remarks remain a popular source of online amusement to this day.
On Wednesday, amid a gaggle of reporters and photographers, Infantino once again took to the stage. He sat in a tent in the shadow of the Estadio Azteca – it has been renamed Estadio Ciudad de México for the World Cup – a place many see as the western hemisphere’s cathedral of football. On Thursday, Mexico will host South Africa in the opening match of the 2026 World Cup.
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Pablo Iglesias Maurer in Mexico City · Wed, Jun 10, 2026, 2:41 PM
US news | The Guardian
The Fifa president’s monologue before the 2022 World Cup attained legendary status for all the wrong reasons. He was in familiar form four years on
Gianni Infantino’s speech on the eve of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar is the stuff of legend. You know the one – the rambling, hour-long monologue where he told us all how he felt. He felt gay that day. He also felt disabled, Qatari, Arab, African and like a migrant worker. In doing so, the Fifa president engraved himself permanently into meme culture, and his remarks remain a popular source of online amusement to this day.
On Wednesday, amid a gaggle of reporters and photographers, Infantino once again took to the stage. He sat in a tent in the shadow of the Estadio Azteca – it has been renamed Estadio Ciudad de México for the World Cup – a place many see as the western hemisphere’s cathedral of football. On Thursday, Mexico will host South Africa in the opening match of the 2026 World Cup.
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