DOHA, Qatar — FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s opening quote from the first World Cup press conference has made headlines, rightly so. “Today I have very strong feelings, today I feel Qatari, today I feel Arab, today I feel African, today I feel gay, today I feel disabled, today I feel a migrant worker,” Infantino said. “Of course, I am not Qatari, I am not an Arab, I am not African, I am not gay, I am not disabled. But I feel like it, because I know what it means to be discriminated, to be bullied.”
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Then he cited his own tale about growing up the son of parents who had emigrated from the poor south of Italy to Switzerland, as well as the fact that as a child he was bullied for his red hair and freckles.
As far as PR own goals are concerned, this one will be hard to beat. Infantino may have meant his words as a gesture of solidarity and inclusion, but they came across as clunky, crass and offensive. One experience as a discriminated against minority (Italian immigrants in post-war Switzerland and — I guess — kids with red hair and freckles) is not the same to the discrimination and experience of other minorities. Especially when you happen to be white, male, European, nondisabled and heterosexual.
