Up next in 10
Gianni Infantino has abandoned his controversial proposal to sell stakes in the World Cup, according to James Hanson, that's not enough.
In this 'rants-on', James explains why FIFA's latest controversy goes far beyond one bad decision. From corruption scandals and political interference to the growing influence of Donald Trump, this is a warning about what football could become if the game is treated as a private business opportunity.
Listen to the full show on the all-new LBC App: https://app.af.lbc.co.uk/btnc/thenewlbcapp
#jameshanson #fifa #fifaworldcup #gianniinfantino #infantinoscandal #worldcup #uefa #football #donaldtrump #trump #politics #LBC
LBC is the home of live debate around news and current affairs in the UK.
Join in the conversation and listen at https://www.lbc.co.uk/
Sign up to LBC's weekly newsletter here: https://l-bc.co/signup
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
I want to do the first in a new series, a little feature that we have loosely styled, Hanson Rants On
0:09
Get it? Because Rants On sounds a bit like Hanson, loosely. Basically, this is me having a bit of a rant about someone or something that has got my goat each week
0:22
Now, we are open to better titles than Hanson Rants On. If you think you can come up with a better snappy title for this feature, I'm all ears
0:33
0345 6060 973 to call or WhatsApp or you can text 84850
0:38
But for the moment, we are dubbing it Hansen Ranson. And the subject of the first ever Hansen Ranson is this man
0:47
I have very strong feelings. I can tell you that. Today I feel Qatari
1:00
Today I feel Arab Today I feel African
1:12
Today I feel gay Today I feel disabled
1:30
Today I feel a migrant worker. I'm not a hateful bloke. I don't really despise anyone
1:39
But I think I might despise Gianni Infantino, the ludicrously venal FIFA president
1:47
who has surely disgraced himself beyond the point of any return this week
1:52
His plan to sell off the World Cup to private investors which thankfully he has now abandoned because of the pressure that was brought on him by UEFA and other governing bodies of football around the world
2:07
was an absolute outrage. He wanted to privatise the beautiful game for his own personal profit
2:17
I don't know what it is about FIFA that attracts such greedy, corrupt individuals to run it
2:24
You might remember back in the day there was a Brazilian bloke called João Havillange
2:29
who it was subsequently revealed had accepted millions of dollars in bribes
2:34
to sell off marketing rights to the World Cup. Then we had Sepp Blatter, of course, who had to quit as president in 2015
2:42
over his own corruption scandal. And now we have another Swiss lawyer leading FIFA in the form of Gianni Infantino
2:50
and he has absolutely disgraced the position. Not only through his sucking up to Donald Trump
2:59
this is the guy who invented a ludicrous FIFA peace prize to give to Donald Trump
3:06
What did Trump do in the immediate aftermath of having said prize
3:10
He launched essentially a coup in Venezuela, threatened to annex Greenland and then started a war in the Middle East
3:17
That's what the recipient of the first ever FIFA Priest Prize did. But also, of course, Gianni Infantino basically giving in to Donald Trump
3:26
when Trump intervened and wanted the red card for Falarin Balogun overturned during the World Cup a month ago
3:34
I mean, the cravenness of Infantino knows no bounds. But it's not just the cravenness, it is the greed
3:41
I suggested that this has been so successful that, And I'm really working these people hard
3:48
because they really call the shot. They tell Johnny exactly what to do
3:52
I say, what we should do is you should choose the United States of America again This time we leave Mexico and Canada out But then what you do is you which I was very nice to get them in But what we do is you leave you choose us
4:08
but you pick somebody else for the next one. And that will take some of the anger, hatred
4:13
and steam out of everyone. But Johnny also had another idea. He said we could do it
4:19
China and the United States for next time. We do them China, United States
4:24
so you have a nice short flight in between games. It is the sheer, unadulterated greed of this man
4:32
that is, on one level, almost something to be marvelled at. I can only assume he has spent so much time in the orbit of the Trumps
4:38
because, remember, this plan to sell off stakes in the World Cup
4:43
was backed by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Donald Trump's son-in-law, and I think there's no coincidence there
4:50
Clearly, Infantino has spent so much time in the orbit of Donald Trump that he thinks, oh, actually, I'm going to get in on the griff myself
4:58
Because it was revealed, I think earlier this week by Forbes, that Donald Trump has made more than $2 billion
5:04
since returning to the White House at the start of last year. Donald Trump is a man who has used his own elected office
5:11
for his personal gain. And Infantino clearly thought, if you can't beat him, join him
5:18
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. I don't know if you know, but the official definition
5:24
of FIFA is we are, FIFA is the official happiness provider to humanity since
5:32
120 years. So we are providing joy and happiness. Unless the team loses, of course
5:41
And so what we have been seeing this week with this ridiculous idea of putting a for sale
5:46
sign on the beautiful game, I fear is Infantino's way of trying to imitate
5:52
Trump. It is the Trumpification of world football. And do you know what
5:56
Fair play to UEFA for threatening to boycott the World Cup if this plan remained on the table It needed that It needed other bits of world football standing up to Infantino once and for all
6:08
Because here's the thing about the World Cup. Despite the fact this recent World Cup was in many ways blighted by FIFA's incompetence
6:16
and its greed, you know, from the ticket prices to the way it gave into Trump over everything
6:21
to the hydration breaks. Despite all of that, it was still a wonderful tournament that displayed in many ways the
6:26
best of world football. We had the world's best players strutting their stuff
6:31
We had huge global audiences. We had breakthrough in the all-important US market
6:36
And we had some iconic matches. I mean, look at England versus Mexico at the Azteca
6:40
probably the greatest game of football I have ever watched as a fan experience
6:45
And the beauty of football is it is a distillation of the human experience in 90 minutes
6:49
You go through the full gamut of human emotions. Joy, relief, tension, pain, agony, drama, anger
6:57
You have it all in 90 minutes. It is the human experience distilled
7:02
unless, of course, you are Gianni Infantino, in which case it is purely a chance for personal profit
7:09
So for me, Gianni Infantino needs to go. It is not enough for him to have abandoned his plans
7:17
to sell off the World Cup. He needs to be ousted. I don't know what the mechanism is
7:23
I don't think he will have enough personal shame to resign of his own accord
7:27
but he should, but there needs to be a way for the rest of world football to give him his marching orders
7:33
It is time to give the red card to Gianni Infantino, and this time Donald Trump should not be able to overturn it
7:42
There we go. That is my first ever Hanson rant on. If you want to read more of my thoughts on Gianni Infantino
7:49
I wrote an opinion piece about this for the LBC website and app yesterday
7:53
which you can read on it. the LBC app of course free to download from the app store
7:58
go and do that now if you haven't already but honestly Gianni Infantino is something else
#news