FIFA president Gianni Infantino took aim at European critics of Qatar on the eve of the World Cup in an extraordinary hour-long monologue. Infantino attracted criticism on social media for declaring "today I feel gay" and "today I feel (like) a migrant worker" early on in the speech, referencing the discrimination his family faced as Italian migrants in Switzerland and how he was bullied owing to his red hair and freckles.
The rights of the LGBTQ+ community and migrant workers in Qatar have been heavily in focus in the years leading up to the finals, particularly in Europe, but Infantino highlighted Europe's own shortcomings on social issues and their current immigration policies in what was an impassioned defence of Qatar's progress since the finals were controversially awarded in 2010.
"We have told many many lessons from some Europeans, from the western world," he said. "I am European. I think for what we Europeans have been doing the last 3,000 years we should be apologising for next 3,000 years before starting to give moral lessons to people."
