World Cup 2022: FIFA president Gianni Infantino defends decisions in Qatar

The FIFA president spoke uninterrupted in a nearly hour-long press conference Saturday, addressing the criticism leveled by many towards the tournament’s host nation.

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GIANNI INFANTINO: Today I have very strong feelings, I can tell you that. Today I feel Qatari. Today I feel Arab. Today I feel African. Today I feel gay. Today I feel disabled. Today I feel a migrant worker. I'm European. Actually, I am European, not just I feel European.

I think for what we Europeans have been doing in the last 3,000 years around the world, we should be apologizing for the next 3,000 years before starting to give moral lessons. And we look at this issue of migration and the situation of hundreds of thousands of women and men from developing countries who would like to offer their services abroad in order to help and give a future to their families back home.

Well, Qatar is actually offering them this opportunity. Hundreds of thousands of workers from developing countries come here. They earn 10 times more then what they earn in their home country and they help their families to survive. And they do it in a legal way.

We in Europe, we close our borders and we don't allow practically any worker from these countries, who have obviously very low income, to work legally in our country, because we all know there are many illegal workers in our European countries.