World football governing body Fifa’s president Gianni Infantino will set foot in Dhaka Wednesday evening before departing a day later, confirmed BFF officials Saturday.
The 49-year old Swiss-Italian will be accompanied by Fifa deputy secretary general Matthias Grafstrom, chief of communications Onofre Costa, director of members associations of Asia and Oceania Sanjeevan Balasingam and the Fifa supremo’s office manager Federico Ravinglione and their visit has been titled Asia’s Goodwill Tour.
Infantino is scheduled to land in Bangladesh from Mongolia and pay a courtesy call on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at the PM’s Office Thursday morning at 10am before attending several other programs.
Infantino will then leave for Laos in his next visit.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has said that the State of Qatar will host an unforgettable edition of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, pointing out that holding the World Cup in November and December will be in favor of the tournament and the players. #QNA
— Qatar News Agency (@QNAEnglish) October 11, 2019
“Fifa president Gianni Infantino will have discussions with the BFF executive members where we will share our status with regards to Fifa’s vision and goal,” BFF vice president Kazi Nabil Ahmed told the media at a press conference at BFF House in Dhaka.
BFF boss Kazi Salahuddin said, “He has thorough knowledge about Bangladesh football. His visit is very significant for us. He will observe our activities regarding football development. But since this is a goodwill visit, it will not be right for us to place any demands on him. With that said, if certain things come up, we will discuss.”
This will be the fourth occasion of a Fifa boss visiting Bangladesh after Joao Havelange (1980-81) and the now controversial Sepp Blatter (2006 and 2012).