FIFA chief plans to visit BD by Mar to support women's football

DAVOS (Switzerland), Jan 23 (UNB): Head of global football authority Gianni Infantino on Wednesday said he would like to visit Bangladesh in the next two months and hoped to fund the country's women's football.

The FIFA chief made the comments when he called on Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum annual meeting in the Swiss city of Davos.

Infantino praised Yunus' ideas in making sports carbon neutral and said the FIFA would help develop soccer in the South Asian region, said Chief Adviser's Deputy Press Secretary Abul Kalam Azad Majumder.

"I want to visit Bangladesh in the next two months," Infantino told Prof Yunus.

He said FIFA would like to fund women's football in Bangladesh after the Chief Adviser sought his support to build facilities such as dormitories and other infrastructures for Bangladeshi women footballers.

Infantino said FIFA would also help women's football in Saudi Arabia and added that the Bangladeshi diaspora in the kingdom will also benefit from the FIFA move.

Infantino regretted that he could not visit Bangladesh during the ongoing youth festival despite being invited.

Lamiya Morshed, SDGs Affairs Coordinator, and Ambassador Tareq Md Ariful Islam, Bangladesh Permanent Representative in Geneva, also attended the meeting.