{"id":39218,"date":"2026-06-11T07:20:32","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T07:20:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/39218\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T07:20:32","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T07:20:32","slug":"fifa-president-gianni-infantino-downplays-visa-price-complaints","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/39218\/","title":{"rendered":"FIFA President Gianni Infantino downplays visa, price complaints"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

MEXICO CITY\u00a0\u2014\u00a0On the eve of the World Cup kickoff, FIFA President Gianni Infantino<\/a> called for patience in the face of a series of crises that threaten to overshadow the start of the tournament, led by the case of Somali referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan<\/a>, who was denied entry into the United States.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Mexico faces South Africa<\/a> at the Mexico City Stadium, kicking off the 38-day tournament with matches in Mexico, the United States and Canada . The run-up to the global spectacle has been marked by controversy<\/a>, including the U.S. denial of participant and fan visas and high ticket prices that have triggered attorney general inquiries in the United States.<\/p>\n

Artan, one of the 52 referees selected by FIFA for the World Cup, was unable to enter the United States due to \u201cissues related to background checks\u201d and will not be able to participate in the tournament. The Somali, who had been named Confederation of African Football Referee of the Year in 2025, became the first referee from his country to be appointed to call a World Cup match, but he was forced to return to Istanbul after being denied entry at Miami International Airport.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happened to the referee from Somalia is unfortunate, but we can\u2019t control everything. Sometimes you just have to relax. We\u2019re trying to find a solution,\u201d Infantino said at a news conference on Wednesday in Mexico City.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not the kings of the world. We want to unite the world,\u201d Infantino added, defending ticket prices, his relationship with President Trump<\/a> and noting that there were decisions by the U.S. administration that had to be respected.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I say to relax, I don\u2019t mean to relax and do nothing. I\u2019m telling you to trust us; there are things we\u2019re working on behind the scenes. There are things they tell us, and there are other things they don\u2019t. Sometimes we find solutions, other times we don\u2019t,\u201d Infantino said. \u201cWe don\u2019t live on the moon. We live on planet Earth, and we try to do our best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Infantino has promoted inclusivity and unity, but the Iranian Football Federation reported that 15 of its officials were barred from entry into the U.S., and the Iranian team, based in Tijuana, will only be allowed to enter U.S. territory for a limited period of time. Iran will play two matches at SoFi Stadium<\/a> \u2014 on Monday against New Zealand and on June 21 against Belgium.<\/p>\n

Citizens of Iran and Haiti are also barred from attending the tournament as fans. The International Sports Press Assn. also reported that journalists from Iran and various African nations did not receive visas or were granted only restricted access, blocking them from reentering the U.S. if they leave to cover matches in Canada or Mexico.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reality is that every country has a government,\u201d said Infantino. \u201cIt\u2019s not easy when you have 300,000 accredited people to process. \u201cOur world is very aggressive; security is more important than anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Infantino defended his close relationship with President Trump.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout his involvement, it would not have been possible to host the World Cup in the United States,\u201d he stated. \u201cHe immediately understood the magnitude of the World Cup and instructed his administration to help. We\u2019re talking about the most powerful country in the world, and there are things that must be taken into account.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to immigration controversies, there is discontent over ticket prices. Critics slammed the most expensive tickets in World Cup history and dynamic pricing, which adjusts prices according to demand.<\/p>\n

According to Infantino, ticket prices were set based on various market studies and taking the U.S. ticket resale market into account.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we had sold them at a lower price, they would have gone to secondary markets at much higher prices. And where would that money have gone? Not to soccer,\u201d argued Infantino, who said the profits will be invested in the growth of soccer in countries where \u201cno one wants to invest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Infantino closed his opening statement to a large group of journalists by urging people to feel free to attack him but also promoting peace and soccer, which he argued has the potential to unite people and solve problems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MEXICO CITY\u00a0\u2014\u00a0On the eve of the World Cup kickoff, FIFA President Gianni Infantino called for patience in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39219,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[907,22667,22666,8,22664,18671,19,21621,215,22669,9,415,22668,7,5750,22665,13,22663],"class_list":["post-39218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-top-stories","tag-country","tag-entry","tag-fifa-president-gianni-infantino","tag-headlines","tag-high-ticket-price","tag-infantino","tag-iran","tag-match","tag-mexico","tag-mexico-city-stadium","tag-news","tag-people","tag-referee","tag-top-stories","tag-tournament","tag-u-s-denial","tag-united-states","tag-world-cup-kickoff"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@news\/116730267055726190","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}