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FIFA President Gianni Infantino has laid out the organisation’s four-year strategy (2023-2027) for global football to representatives of all of FIFA’s 211 Member Associations at the FIFA Football Summit 2023 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Ahead of the FIFA Club World Cup 2023 final between Fluminense FC and Manchester City FC in the Red Sea port city on Friday, the FIFA President added further detail to the plans to develop football he initially presented upon his re-election at the FIFA Congress in Kigali, Rwanda, in March 2023.
“You know where we are heading, you know what we want to do, but also, of course, to achieve these objectives, to achieve these results, we need the support of every one of you because our objectives, our goals are obviously to make football truly global and to involve and include the entire world,” the FIFA President told delegates, referring directly to the Football Unites the World strategy.
“The most important thing that we have to remember is that we are here to organise football, not to organise meetings. So, we must make sure that the meetings are short and efficient, and that they have some results, so that we can go on the pitch and make sure that football is played in every corner of the world by every girl and every boy who just wants to kick a ball.”
Saudi Arabian Minister of Sports, Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal, also took to the event stage, and gave an overview of how football is playing a central role in the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, which is the blueprint for opening up the country to the world.
“In Saudi Arabia, I am proud to say that football is truly growing at every level – for girls and boys, men and women. We are in a moment of transformation, investing, growing and creating new opportunities for all,” he explained. “An incredible 80% of our population play, watch, or engage with the beautiful game. And our young people simply want to connect with different people and enjoy sports, especially football, just like the rest of the world.”
FIFA Secretary General ad interim Mattias Grafström gave an overview of how the organisation aims to develop a cross-section of aspects of the game, on and off the pitch, while FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development Arsène Wenger detailed the ambition to end the four-year period with an elite academy – either directly established by FIFA or accredited by the organisation – in each member association.
