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

Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Gianni Infantino has been Fifa president since 2016 By Elizabeth Botcherby BBC Sport journalist Published 8 minutes ago 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. He said Fifa "worked tirelessly to unite two countries at war", with Iran entering the country "without incident or conflict". His comments are in stark contradiction to those of Iran's head coach Amir Ghalenoei, who said his team were the "most oppressed" at the World Cup. Infantino's 'time is up' with Fifa - La Liga boss Published 5 days ago The country that doesn't play football... yet Published 6 days ago Iran faced visa delays, "integral" members of their backroom staff were denied entry to the US and fans had their allocation of tickets revoked, while Iran also had to move their training base from Tucson, Arizona to Tijuana, Mexico following a multitude of logistical issues in the build up to the tournament. They later also encountered restrictions on their movements as they travelled between their training base and group matches in Los Angeles and Seattle. Such issues were not unique to Iran, with fans from Haiti, Senegal, and Ivory Coast impacted by travel bans imposed by the Trump administration, while Somali referee Omar Artan was denied entry to the US - despite holding a diplomatic passport and a single entry US visa - because of his "association with suspected members of terror organisations". Infantino wrote: "You mentioned the few people denied visas and overlooked the millions who were approved, from all parts of the world. Because football unites the world, and it was impressively demonstrated this summer." Doubling down on the tournament's safety, Infantino said there were "zero incidents, zero violence, just joy, emotions, happiness, unity, and togetherness". However, Fifa is investigating Argentina's actions after players and backroom staff were involved in altercations with Spain's players after losing the World Cup final. It is also investigating allegations of racist abuse towards American social media influencer IShowSpeed, while supporters were arrested at multiple matches - including following England's semi-