Gary Neville has compared Gianni Infantino to Donald Trump and Boris Johnson after the FIFA president launched a stunning attack on the Qatar World Cup's critics.
Infantino told Europeans they were "hypocritical" to criticise the tournament due to the continent's '3,000-year' history. Many people have slammed the decision to host the World Cup in Qatar due to the country's poor human rights record, among other reasons.
Neville has hit back at Infantino, who is the only candidate for next year's FIFA presidency. The Manchester United legend, who he has accepted a large sum of money to work for Qatar's state-run broadcaster beIN Sports at World Cup, did not hold back as he slammed Infantino's "scandalous" remarks.
"I've travelled all around the world playing with Manchester United - to the Middle East to the Far East to Asia to Africa to Australasia - and there's no doubt we should be taking football all around the world," Neville told beIN Sports before the opening ceremony.
"I mean, he's a terrible face for football - that guy [Infantino]. Some of the things he said yesterday were inappropriate and shouldn't be said by him. He should be statesmanlike - he should be bringing people together.
"He's the global representative of football - not answering to one or two nations, which he seemed to be doing yesterday. He's got to rise above it. I'm sick of these leaders - like Johnson, likes Trump, like Infantino, like [Sepp] Blatter, who to be fair don't unite.
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"They divide. All their language is about division. Even though they try to think they're bringing people together - they're not. And I have to say, some of his language yesterday about - 'I'm a migrant worker, I'm disabled' - it's an absolute scandal.
"He shouldn't be using that type of language. He shouldn't be using those phrases, in my opinion. And to be fair I think FIFA is a poor reputation of what football is. It's a beautiful game played by communities from Brazil to Bury to Bolivia to Peru to everywhere.
"And I have to say, I think FIFA need to clean up its act. It's been bad for so long and my personal feeling with Infantino is he's put himself back in power - it looks like - for another four years. There's no transparency, there's no independence."
Neville added: "That's football's problem - it's representative of the hierarchy and elite and rich in life. We've got to have independence, we've got to have a democracy. He's just elected himself back into a position, and then he's the worst face - I think - to try to present a Middle Eastern and an Arab and a Muslin and a Qatar World Cup."
Speaking on Saturday, Infantino said: "I think for what we Europeans have been doing in the last 3,000 years we should be apologising for the next 3,000 years before starting to give moral lessons to people.
"Today I feel Qatari, Today I feel Arab. Today I feel African. Today I feel gay. Today I feel disabled. Today I feel (like) a migrant worker... I know what it means to be discriminated against, to be bullied... because I had red hair and freckles, plus I was Italian."
