The President of the world’s football governing body FIFA, Gianni Infantino has addressed worries over a selfie he took during the funeral of Brazilian and world football icon Edson Arantes Do Nascimento “Pele”.
The FIFA boss was amongst a plethora of of leading football figures in attendance in a ceremony to pay tributes to Pele in the city of Santos, posing for a selfie with some of Pele’s former teammates.
The picture triggered reactions with FIFA president Gianni Infantino stating that he was dismayed by the criticisms via a post on Instagram.
“I am dismayed after having been informed that I am apparently being criticised by some people for having taken a selfie and pictures at the ceremony yesterday.” Infantino wrote on Instagram.
“I would like to clarify that I was both honoured and humbled that teammates and family members of the great Pelé asked me if I could take a few photos with them. And obviously, I immediately agreed.”
“In the case of the selfie, Pelé’s teammates asked to do a selfie of all of us together but they didn’t know how to do it. So, to be helpful, I took the phone of one of them and took a photo of all of us for him” Infantino detailed before adding, “If being helpful to a teammate of Pelé creates criticism I’m happy to take it and will continue to be helpful wherever I can to those having contributed to write legendary pages of football.”
“I have so much respect and admiration for Pele and for that ceremony yesterday that I would never do anything that would be disrespectful in any way whatsoever.”
The FIFA president also highlighted that the football pitch at the institution’s headquarters will be renamed “Estadio Pele- FIFA Zurich” after the three-time world cup victor.
On Monday, Gianni Infantino had urged FIFA member associations to name a stadium in their respective countries after Pele.