FIFA president Gianni Infantino tells women to ‘pick the right battles’ and ‘convince’ men how to develop their football system, in bizarre speech ahead of World Cup final

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has declared that women must “convince” men how to develop their football system and “choose the right fight,” in a bizarre speech at a World Cup congress.

Infantino told women that campaigning for equal pay was the ‘wrong’ fight for them, praised his own organization and attacked the media in a number of countries for not supporting the women’s game by not sending journalists to this tournament.

He said, “I say to all women that you have the power to change. Choose the right battles. Choose the right battles. You have the power to change. You have the power to convince us men what to do and what not to do.

‘You do. Just do it. For men, you will find open doors at FIFA. Just push the doors. They are open. And do it on a national level, in every country, on a continental level, in every confederation. Just keep pushing, keep the momentum, keep dreaming, and let’s really go for full equality.’

Infantino seemed unaware of how patronizing his comments were, with their suspicions that men are in control and need to be convinced of the importance of the women’s game.

Female players have called for equal pay to male stars such as Lionel Messi (left) and Kylian Mbappé (right) at future World Cups

Infantino suggested that women campaigning for equal pay is the ‘wrong’ fight and ‘would not solve anything’

He attacked Italian media stating that they had 39 journalists in Qatar for the men’s World Cup, which Italy failed to qualify for, but none here, despite the Italian women being competitors while Italy did not.

“It cannot be that there were more than 30 Danish or Swiss journalists in Qatar and less than 10, even less than five, here in Australia and New Zealand,” Infantino said. “We need to start treating men and women, or women and men, equally.”

On equal pay, Infantino said, “That doesn’t solve anything. It could be a symbol, but it wouldn’t solve anything because it’s one month every four years and involves a few players out of thousands and thousands of players. We have to keep the momentum going. We have to push it. We have to go for equality, but we really have to do it. And you, here in this room, all the women in this room, you have the power to do it. So believe in it.’

Infantino congratulated himself on the expansion of the Women’s World Cup to 32 countries.

He said: ‘I remember when we decided to do that, the usual critics, who were getting less and less, said it’s not going to work and the level is too different. There would be 15-0 scores, which is bad for women’s football and its image.

“I’m sorry, but FIFA was right. FIFA was right. As has often happened in recent years, FIFA was right again. We had eight debutants. We had a lot of countries around the world that suddenly thought they had a chance to get involved.”