Infantino tells Fifa critics to 'meditate, pray or watch football'

Fifa president Gianni Infantino has told critics to "meditate, pray or watch a football match" instead of "spreading hate and false rumours" about his leadership, the governing body and the World Cup.

In a 15-slide post on his personal Instagram account - reposted to Fifa's eight million followers - Infantino addressed "those behind their pens and papers, behind their screens" to affirm his belief that, while they were "busy planting seeds of hate", Fifa was delivering the "greatest event on earth".

He said the World Cup "celebrated humanity at its best", adding that the 2026 tournament had "100% safety and security, only joy and happiness".

Infantino downplayed several of the tournament's high-profile controversies and hailed the involvement of Iran, who featured at the World Cup despite their ongoing conflict with co-hosts the United States, as a success.

BOLD.news retains normalized extraction for time-stamped evidence and analysis. This public wrapper shows a limited excerpt because availability is not a republication license; use the publisher link for the complete presentation.