Start of FIFA Congress delayed as delegates wait for Infantino’s arrival

ASUNCION: FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s late arrival in Paraguay forced a two-hour delay to the start of the FIFA Congress on Thursday, sources told Reuters, following his Middle East trip accompanying Donald Trump on state visits.

Media reports said Infantino’s flight from Doha, via a stop in Nigeria, was still in the air at the scheduled start of the meeting in Asuncion.

FIFA informed delegates around 8:00 am local time (1100 GMT) that the start of the event would be delayed by two hours, from 10:30 am, due to “unforeseen reasons”, a source briefed on the situation told Reuters.

Infantino was on a trip to the Middle East, which included visits to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, alongside US President Trump.

The event was originally due to start at 9:30 am, but on Wednesday it was delayed by an hour.

Separately, many Paraguayan children dream of seeing their national team play in a World Cup and now, after visiting the FIFA Museum in Asuncion, it feels a little more real as they look forward to their country being back on the biggest stage of all.

Paraguay have played in seven World Cups, including the first in 1930, but their last appearance was back in 2010 when they reached the quarter-finals.

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In 2030 they will be back, and playing in Asuncion at the tournament, which will be hosted by Spain, Portugal, and Morocco but will also feature matches in Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina to commemorate the centenary of the first World Cup, hosted and won by Uruguay.

FIFA decided in 2023 that Argentina would host a game to commemorate them finishing runners-up in the first tournament, while Paraguay also get one in recognition of the country being the home of South America’s governing body CONMEBOL.

The South American matches will be the first three played in the tournament and all six host nations will qualify automatically.