MEXICO CITY — FIFA president Gianni Infantino said the organization cannot dictate to the U.S. government who to allow into its country for the World Cup, saying that sometimes it is better to “chill and relax” over visa issues.
“Believe me when I tell you, or don’t believe me if you don’t want, but we try always to find solutions, always,” he said during his pre-World Cup news conference in Mexico City on Wednesday. “But then we need to respect that we are not the kings of the world who can rule over governments and police forces and I don’t know what. We are a sports organization, we try to do our best with the means that we have.”
Infantino referenced the specific case of Omar Artan, who was set to be the first referee from Somalia to officiate at a World Cup after making FIFA’s final list for the tournament, but was denied entry to the United States after arriving at the Miami International Airport from Istanbul.
A United States official said Tuesday night that Artan was refused admission because of “association with suspected members of terror organizations.”
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“It is unfortunate what happened to Omar, the referee from Somalia, but again we don’t control everything,” Infantino said. “We try, we’ll discuss, we’ll see. Maybe sometimes it’s good as well to chill, relax. We work on everything, we try to resolve everything.
“Sometimes to immediately start screaming and shouting has the opposite effect in terms of finding a solution. We always try to find solutions, always. But then we need to respect that we are not the kings of the world who can rule over governments and police forces.”
Infantino was later pressed to clarify his comments and highlighted the success in getting the Iran squad visas for the tournament despite the ongoing conflict with the U.S.
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“I don’t mean to chill and do nothing, I mean to trust us that we are working behind the scenes, trying to understand,” he said. “There are things we are told, things we are not told. We always try to make things positive and find a solution.
“It has been successful to bring Iran to play in America, I don’t know who would’ve managed to do that … we don’t live on the moon, we live on planet earth and we try our best.”
Despite the ongoing visa-related issues that included relocating the Iran national team’s training base to Tijuana, Mexico, and the denied entry to Artan, Infantino insisted he does not regret choosing the United States as a host country of the 2026 World Cup.
Infantino added that the organization is taking a similar “relaxed” approach to the ongoing investigations regarding World Cup ticket prices. There are current cases open by attorneys general in California, New Jersey, New York and Texas.
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“Let me say that we are very relaxed about it because before starting to sell 7 million tickets, we checked what we would do with the best lawyers or experts,” Infantino said.
“In California, we sold 800,000 tickets for the games in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Out of the 800,000 we had three customers who complained. The fourth one has come since. These cases were solved before the investigations started. We welcome any investigations. We’ll present everything and make our case. But it’s most important that every dollar that we generate goes back into football.”
FIFA priced tickets at $140 for the summer tournament, with certain regular seats up to $8,680 for the July 19 final in New Jersey. After facing heavy criticism, FIFA released a number of $60 tickets to national federations for supporters.
Infantino said the average ticket price was under $500 for the tournament, which was comparable to other U.S. sports during their playoffs — a claim that while true for resale prices does not appear to be accurate for list prices.
The World Cup, which is also being co-hosted by Canada and Mexico, will kick off on Thursday at the Estadio Azteca with a match between Mexico and South Africa
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
