FIFA President Calls For Ceasefire During Qatar World Cup

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has made a direct plea to world leaders gathered in Indonesia for the 17th Group of Twenty (G20) summit to call for ceasefire during FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and to begin dialogue as a first step to bring the conflict in Russia and Ukraine to an end.

Addressing assembled heads of state at the intergovernmental forum, which comprises of 19 countries and the European Union, the FIFA President said: “Football is a force for good. We are not naïve to believe that football can solve the world’s problems. We know that our main focus as a sports organisation is and should be sports, but because Football Unites the World, this particular FIFA World Cup, with five billion people watching it, can be a trigger for a positive gesture, for a sign or a message of hope.”

The FIFA President’s speech recognised the current uncertainty in the world, and identified countries involved in current conflict. “Russia hosted the last World Cup in 2018, and Ukraine is bidding to host the World Cup in 2030,” the FIFA President said, when identifying their 2030 bid together with Portugal and Spain, among other bidders.

“Maybe, the current World Cup, starting in five days, can really be that positive trigger. So my plea, to all of you, is to think on a temporary ceasefire, for one month, for the duration of the FIFA World Cup.”

He called for the implementation of humanitarian corridors, or anything that could lead to the resumption of dialogue as a first step to peace.

He adds that the world leaders have the ability to influence the course of history.

FIFA/Samuel Isaiah