The exchange took place outside a hotel in Punta Cana. Sky News US correspondent James Matthews, who like the FIFA president has a bald head, had tracked Gianni Infantino to the resort to put the questions in person.
“Have you betrayed the game of football?” Matthews asked.
“You have a nice haircut. Thank you so much,” Infantino replied.
Matthews pressed again, listing the fans and associations calling for him to step down. Infantino’s parting line, as he stepped into a waiting black car, was a variation on the same joke.
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“I’ll see you at the hairdressers.”
The event he was told to skip
Infantino was in Punta Cana for a Caribbean Football Union Under-14 tournament, an event his own vice president had asked him to stay away from.
CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani wrote to him the day before, requesting he reconsider. His letter was obtained by the Associated Press.
“I believe that considering the governance crisis surrounding FIFA as a result of your controversial FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal, the media will focus on this situation,” Montagliani wrote.
“As such, I respectfully ask you in the name of football to reconsider your attendance as it will unfortunately undermine the technical nature of this important youth development activity.”
Infantino ignored the request. He attended the tournament and posted photos on Instagram of his meetings with Dominican politicians and officials on the sidelines of the event.
The proposal that blew up in Infantino’s face
FIFA Forward Enterprise was unveiled on 28 July: a plan to sell outside investors a roughly 20% stake in a new commercial vehicle valued at around $20 billion.
The backlash was immediate. UEFA’s 55 member associations voted to boycott all FIFA competitions including the World Cup, and CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation rejected the plan the same day. Three continental confederations accused Infantino of “deception”.
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Infantino pulled the proposal on 1 August, telling members “this proposal will not proceed”. What has not gone away is the anger at how it was tabled. Multiple FIFA vice presidents, Montagliani among them, have publicly called on him to step down.
The question Matthews put to Infantino in Punta Cana was the one his critics have been asking for weeks. The bald jokes were the closest the FIFA president came to answering it.
