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by Shiryn Ghermezian
FIFA President Gianni Infantino during the FIFA Football Conference in Milan, Italy, September 22, 2019. Photo: REUTERS/Flavio Lo Scalzo
FIFA President Gianni Infantino will visit Israel in May to see firsthand the progress of soccer as a sport in the country, he announced on Tuesday after meeting with Israeli Football Association (IFA) President Shino Moshe Zuares in Paris.
“I’m very much looking forward to the opportunity to travel to Israel to see how far they have come since my previous visit,” said Infantino, who added that soccer, “has the capacity to bring people and communities together, and the IFA have worked tirelessly to provide opportunities for everyone to play the sport.”
Zuares said he welcomes the “great news” about Infantino’s upcoming visit to Israel.
“We are able to show him what we have done, how we are improving and what we are going to build in the future,” he noted. “I appreciate the visit very much. I appreciate the way that the President was positive about all of our needs. For us, it’s very, very important and we want to see improvement immediately for Israeli football.”
FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development Arsène Wenger also attended the meeting in Paris and Infantino said his knowledge and input as the former coach of the soccer teams AS Monaco, Nagoya Grampus Eight and Arsenal “will reinforce and enhance coaching practices, ensuring players across the range of ages will get the best possible education in the game.”
“We have to improve our education and the matter of coaching in Israel,” said the FIFA president following his meeting with Zuares and Wenger. “We spoke about it and [IFA] promised me as well that Mr. Wenger will come to visit Israel and give some seminars on coaching in Israel, which is, for us, very important.”
Infantino traveled to Israel in 2021, which was his first time in the country as FIFA’s president, and during his two-day stay he visited the Shefayim National Team Complex, which is supported by the FIFA Forward program. FIFA said the IFA is planning to create “a base for all national teams” and has already built an academy, which Infantino will visit in May, that helps youth athletes develop their skills.
