'You want another world war, okay, not me,' - Gianni Infantino slams Qatar critics ahead of FIFA World Cup

Gianni Infantino used his position as FIFA president to attack World Cup in Qatar critics, labelling them hypocrites and racists. The Western world should apologise for what it has done over the last 3,000 years rather than giving moral lessons, according to Infantino.

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Infantino called some of the criticism directed at Qatar "quite incredible" and "profoundly, profoundly unjust," saying that "we have to look for excuses to bring people together" rather than seek to divide. "You want another world war, okay, not me," he said in response to a question about why England should play Iran, whose regime is opposed to allowing women into stadiums. "It's not two regimes or two ideologies competing; it's two football teams," he said.

Infantino repeatedly emphasised that many countries critical of Qatar are far from perfect, citing a report from the international non-profit Human Rights Watch, which has been critical of Qatar's treatment of migrant workers, that said 25,000 people died in Europe since 2014 as a result of the continent's migration policies, 1,200 of them this year. “Why is no one asking for compensation? Where are we going with our way of working guys?” he questioned.

He also mentioned a canton in Switzerland that granted women the right to vote in the 1990s. He was referring to Appenzell Innerhoden, which only allowed women to vote in 1991 after the country's highest court intervened. Infantino mentioned how migrant workers were treated in his country as a child of immigrants into Switzerland. "I understand what it's like to be discriminated against. “I know what it means to be discriminated. I was bullied as a foreigner, plus I was Italian, so imagine,” he said.

“And the same Switzerland has today become an example of inclusion, of tolerance of nationalities working together with rights, Qatar’s made progress as well," he said. Infantino, who is set to serve a third term as FIFA president, said that seeing the working conditions in Doha "brought me back into my childhood." He said: " And I said to the people of Qatar, this is not right, we have to do something about it.”