FIFA President, Infantino, to Visit Nigeria

Infantino

FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, has confirmed he would visit Nigeria on a two-day working visit. The Italian-Swiss, who was elected FIFA President at an extraordinary general assembly in Zurich on February 26, 2016, confirmed the trip following a meeting with the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, President Amaju Pinnick in Paris, France on Sunday, July 10.

Infantino and FIFA’s Secretary General, Fatma Samoura, will arrive Nigeria in a fortnight. “The FIFA President and Secretary General will arrive in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja on Sunday, 24^th July on a two-day working visit to Nigeria,” Pinnick told thenff.com.

During the two-day visit, Infantino and Samoura will pay a courtesy call on President Muhammadu Buhari at the Aso Rock Presidential Villa, hold meeting with a legion of African FA presidents who are expected in Nigeria to join the NFF to receive the FIFA top shots and attend an evening session with Corporate Nigeria in Lagos.

The duo will also meet with Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State before watching the finals of the NFF/ZENITH Bank Future Eagles Championship. A welcome dinner put together by the League Management Company and also attended by members of the diplomatic corps is on the cards.

At the one –hour meeting involving Infantino, Samoura and Pinnick on Sunday, Nigeria’s Minister of Sports, Barrister Solomon Dalung spoke with the FIFA boss and expressed Nigeria’s readiness to welcome the FIFA team.

Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura, 54, was appointed FIFA Secretary General at the 66^th FIFA Congress in Mexico City on May 12. The Senegalese, who has wide experience working with the United Nations in several countries, is the first ever woman to hold the position in FIFA’s 112 year history.

A few days after her appointment, Samoura welcomed Pinnick and NFF 2^nd Vice President/LMC chairman, Shehu Dikko, to a breakfast meeting at her UN office in Abuja.

*Punch/Real News