{"id":15376,"date":"2026-11-11T19:15:49","date_gmt":"2026-11-11T19:15:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/11\/dictator-infantino-needs-psychiatric-help-says-former-fifa-chief-blatter\/"},"modified":"2026-11-11T19:15:49","modified_gmt":"2026-11-11T19:15:49","slug":"dictator-infantino-needs-psychiatric-help-says-former-fifa-chief-blatter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/2026\/11\/11\/dictator-infantino-needs-psychiatric-help-says-former-fifa-chief-blatter\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Dictator\u2019 Infantino needs psychiatric help, says former FIFA chief Blatter"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\u2018Dictator\u2019<\/p>\n

Former FIFA boss Sepp Blatter has slammed current chief Gianni Infantino, calling his successor a \u201cdictator\u201d and suggesting he needs psychiatric help, in an interview with Der Spiegel published Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Blatter, 90, criticised Infantino\u2019s decision to create the FIFA Peace Prize award for US President Donald Trump in the lead-up to this year\u2019s World Cup, hosted in the US, Canada and Mexico.<\/p>\n

He was also critical of Infantino\u2019s post-World Cup plans to sell off part of the commercial rights of the competition in the future, which was scrapped after a fierce backlash.<\/p>\n

\u201cFIFA is suffering. It is currently led by a person who has allowed himself to be blinded,\u201d Blatter told the German magazine.<\/p>\n

The Peace Prize, he said, was \u201cembarrassing\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy would he do something like that?,\u201d Blatter asked.\u00a0\u201cInfantino awards a peace prize to someone who wages war against Iran shortly afterwards? That\u2019s madness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blatter said it was easy for Infantino to secure support for his own re-election from national football bodies.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018If you vote for me,\u2019 he tells the national associations, \u2018you will get much more money than before.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a dictator. People in FIFA tell me that no one is allowed to ride in the elevator with him. He is \u2018untouchable\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking of Infantino\u2019s World Cup sale plans, Blatter said: \u201cInfantino no longer knows any borders. He doesn\u2019t understand any of this.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, maybe Infantino should be sent to a psychiatric ward one day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blatter was also critical of FIFA\u2019s decision to suspend a red card awarded to USA striker Folarin Balogun after Trump intervened ahead of a crucial match at this summer\u2019s World Cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe red card. That\u2019s the worst. Statutes can be interpreted. But rules of the game must apply to everyone, you can\u2019t interpret them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 \u2018Fulfilling his duties\u2019: FIFA \u2013<\/h2>\n

When contacted for comment by AFP however, FIFA pointed to its previous response to Der Spiegel, which countered Blatter\u2019s statements.<\/p>\n

FIFA rebutted allegations Infantino had acted inappropriately, saying he \u201cis fulfilling his duties as president through his travels,\u201d while adding: \u201cThe suspension imposed on Folarin Balogun following a red card was lifted by independent FIFA judicial bodies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Infantino does indeed use the elevator at FIFA, but does so when other people are present,\u201d FIFA said in the statement.<\/p>\n

President of FIFA from 1998, Blatter resigned in disgrace in 2015 amid corruption allegations, including accusations he had sought to buy votes for his presidency.<\/p>\n

Charges were brought against him but Blatter was eventually cleared in two trials but was banned from football by FIFA\u2019s ethics committee.<\/p>\n

Blatter told the magazine he had \u201cno regrets\u201d from his time in charge of the organisation.<\/p>\n

Japanese official Kozo Tashima has announced plans to run against Infantino in his re-election bid, but Blatter named World Athletics president Sebastian Coe as his pick to take over FIFA.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not important who is running. What is important is that the incumbent president is no longer elected.<\/p>\n

\u201cCoe was also chairman of the FIFA Ethics Committee. He is a strong personality. A president from the motherland of football, England, would be good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blatter said he had not spoken with Infantino since early 2016.<\/p>\n

\n

Vanguard News<\/a><\/p>\n

The post \u2018Dictator\u2019 Infantino needs psychiatric help, says former FIFA chief Blatter<\/a> appeared first on Vanguard News<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source: <\/p>\n

Vanguard News<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former FIFA boss Sepp Blatter has slammed current chief Gianni Infantino, calling his successor a \u201cdictator\u201d and suggesting he needs psychiatric help, in an interview with Der Spiegel published Wednesday.… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15377,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}