Gianni Infantino hails ‘victory for me and new Fifa’ after being cleared of secret meetings

Gianni Infantino has boasted of a “full and clear victory for me, for new Fifa and for justice” after the closure of criminal proceedings into secret meetings involving the president.

The case had been open for three years since complaints were made over contact with Switzerland’s former attorney general Michael Lauber and federal prosecutor, Rinaldo Arnold.

Fifa was embroiled in the worst corruption scandal in its history in 2015, which led to its then president Sepp Blatter being banned from the sport while several dozen officials indicted for corruption.

Lauber was at the head of an ensuing investigation, but Fifa has maintained since 2020 that it was legitimate and legal for Infantino to meet with him.

Investigators were looking into three alleged secret meetings between Infantino, Lauber and Arnold, which took place in 2016 and 2017.

However, Swiss Extraordinary Federal Prosecutors Hans Maurer and Ulrich Weder have now dismissed the proceedings. In an emphatic response, Fifa responded to the announcement on Thursday by declaring: “Now it is official: Fifa President Gianni Infantino has always acted absolutely correctly and lawfully in his relations with the Swiss public prosecutors who were investigating the ‘old Fifa’!”

“The new Fifa is today a clean, well run and robust organisation which operates in accordance with the highest ethical and governance standards,” the governing body added.

Maurer and Weder took over the investigation in May 2021 after prosecutor Stefan Keller was removed from his position after a court ruled he could not “guarantee a fair process.”

Fifa added that it “takes note, with extreme satisfaction, of the decision of the two Extraordinary Federal Prosecutors, Hans Maurer and Ulrich Weder, to dismiss and definitively close the proceedings against Gianni Infantino in relation to the so-called ‘Lauber case’.”

“The outcome of this investigation is obviously entirely unsurprising. The only surprising element is only the long time taken to reach such an obvious conclusion,” the governing body said.

In an accompanying quote, Infantino added: “This is a full and clear victory for me, for the new Fifa and for justice! It is now clear that the accusations against me were mere attempts by poor, envious and corrupt people to attack my reputation. If these people have some dignity left, they should at least have the decency and apologise for their actions and the damage caused.

“The investigation fully and clearly confirms that I have always acted in a lawful and correct way, always defending exclusively the interests of Fifa and football.”

An investigation into alleged misuse of a private jet by Infantino in 2017 was closed earlier this year by the Switzerland’s Office of the Attorney General.

Gianni Infantino v Donald Trump: Who said it?

It is gradually becoming clear that Gianni Infantino should just not say things. It rarely goes well for the Fifa president, whose public statements have prompted outrage, confusion and a good deal of laughter. With the Women’s World Cup completed and nearly two years until the next men’s tournament, this should really be hibernation time for Infantino, a period of quiet reflection and development of a media strategy to sell a tournament hosted by Saudi Arabia.

No such luck. After the closure of criminal proceedings into secret meetings involving Infantino, an unusual Fifa statement arrived on Thursday morning beginning with the words: “Now it is official: Fifa President Gianni Infantino has always acted absolutely correctly and lawfully in his relations with the Swiss public prosecutors who were investigating the ‘old Fifa’!”

Rare to see an exclamation mark from such a powerful organisation. Indeed, Fifa managed to send press releases on heartwarming recent subjects like record attendances at the Women’s World Cup, Infantino calling the tournament “transformational” and its fan festival “setting the standard” without once resorting to the most excitable punctuation mark.

But at last, here is some REALLY good news for the sport. “This is a full and clear victory for me, for the new Fifa and for justice!” Infantino said, doubling up on celebratory exclamation marks.

“It is now clear that the accusations against me were mere attempts by poor, envious and corrupt people to attack my reputation. If these people have some dignity left, they should at least have the decency and apologise for their actions and the damage caused.”

Paranoid, tone deaf and vindictive. Ring any bells?

In that spirit, let us play the famous old game of who said it - Gianni Infantino or Donald Trump?

1. “I am lucky enough in my life to come across some of the most talented athletes... And President Trump is made of the same sort of fibre.”

A: Infantino

As much as it would be on-brand for Trump to refer to himself in the third person, this was Infantino, the ellipsis excludes “in soccer” which would have been a giveaway. Nobody said this would be an easy quiz.

2. “There is one billion disabled people in the world. Nobody cares”

A: Infantino

From his “I feel a migrant worker” sermon in Qatar. Does not look good in isolation but, in fairness, was not great in context either.

3. “I had great relationship with the Hispanic — we had a lot of Hispanics in the school actually from different countries, Venezuela, from Brazil, and they all played soccer, and I was on the soccer team and I developed great relationships with them,”

A: Trump

Talking up his cross-demographic appeal ahead of the 2016 election.

4. “We are told many, many lessons from some Europeans, the western world. I am European. I actually am. I think for what we Europeans have been doing in the last 3,000 years, around the world, we should be apologising for the next 3,000 years before starting to give moral lessons to people.”

A: Infantino

Another from his rabble-rousing pre-Qatar speech.

5. “That’s a biggie, that sounds like the game I want to go to.”

A: Trump

After selecting Leeds to play against Manchester United when assisting Jimmy Greaves in the draw for the 1992 League Cup quarter-finals

6. “I say to all the women, that you have the power to change. Pick the right battles. Pick the right fights. You have the power to change. You have the power to convince us men what we have to do and what we don’t have to do. You do it. Just do it.”

A: Infantino

Inspirational stuff. Astonishingly, from this year’s World Cup

7. “I think I am actually humble. I think I’m much more humble than you would understand.”

A: Trump

To Lesley Stahl on 60 Minutes in July 2016.

8. “We need to find ways to include the whole world, to give hope to Africans so that they don’t need to cross the Mediterranean in order to find maybe a better life – but, more probably, death in the sea.”

A: Infantino

Making the case for a biennial World Cup at the ‘Future of Football’ project, in a session of the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe. Keep it light, Gianni.