Is Fifa president Gianni Infantino losing it? You might think so from the content and tone of a bizarre ranting message he has just posted on Instagram defending the (apparently) glorious and unmitigated success of the 2026 World Cup against the unspeakable critics who ‘missed all the joy and togetherness’ are ‘consumed by hate’ and seek to ‘divide’ not ‘unite’.

A direct social media appeal to the hearts and minds of the people in sickly sub-literate, emotional language will be his justification for never revisiting the controversies of the World Cup

Over 1,500 passionate but only vaguely coherent words, Infantino extols the ‘emotions, the laughter, the crying, the deception[?] and the joy’ of the greatest show on earth, when ‘kids, babies[?], and grandparents’ all came together to witness a truly magical event brought to a grateful world by the beneficence of Fifa.

There are some extravagant, not to say outrageous (or deluded) claims. Seemingly, Infantino and his tireless Fifa colleagues were ‘on the front line’ scouring the mean streets of the 16 host cities ‘engaging with fans’ and working to ensure their safety and security, while the ‘haters’ hide ‘behind their pens and papers, behind their screens spreading false rumours’.

In fact, Infantino made multiple trips on his Gulfstream G650ER private jet and seemed to spend the entirety of the tournament in the VVIP luxury sections of the stadiums. It is doubtful he ever actually came within a decent throw-in’s distance of an ordinary fan, let alone ‘engaged’ with any.

‘We experienced no violence, no incidents, 100 per cent safety and security, only joy and happiness!’ he writes. Really? In fact, four people died after celebrations following Mexico’s defeat of Ecuador in the knock-out phase, and there was trouble with Argentina fans in particular in the latter stages.

‘We worked tirelessly to unite two countries at war’ USA and Iran. Oh yeah? Then why were the Iranian team forced to stay in Mexico despite playing all their games in the States?

In other highlights, Infantino claims that Fifa ‘brought Haiti to the world’, which might be news to Haitians who have imagined their country was pretty well established; and that ‘virtually all global celebrities from music, movies and entertainment attended’ and ‘all were joyful and happy’. Tell that to the forlorn Mick Jagger caught wearily shaking his head as England lost out to Argentina in the semis.

In the emotional climax of the encomium to himself and his organisation, Infantino urges the haters to ‘take a moment to reflect, meditate, pray, or watch a football match and truly observe the faces, the eyes, the emotions’ and thus educate themselves so that they can stop ‘planting seeds of hate’ and truly appreciate the world changing greatness of Fifa and the epochal nature of what we were all fortunate to witness.

The closest Infantino comes to a concession to the critics is the word ‘understandable’, which is inserted before a defence of the standards of refereeing. There is also a reference to perhaps the most contentious decision of the tournament: the overturning, after presidential intervention, of Folarin Balogun’s red card so he could play for the USA against Belgium. Infantino claims these kinds of rulings are ‘routine’ in the ‘biggest leagues in the world’ without giving any example of when a country’s leader has ever made a similar game-changing intervention.

Who is all this aimed at, and what is its purpose? ‘Papers and screens’ suggest the target is journalists who have had the temerity not to proclaim the just-concluded tournament as the greatest in the history of the game.

The Fifa president may also have Uefa in his sights. A clash with the European governing body over the possible expansion of the World Cup to 64 teams is brewing (La Liga’s president Javier Tebas has slammed the idea). The several references to smaller Fifa members who ‘brought hope in their countries’ [sic] and ‘gave hope’ so that ‘anyone can be part of the world, be big in the game’ hint that the expansion is going ahead.

As to any wider purpose, self-preservation seems unnecessary as Infantino is widely expected to be re-elected as Fifa president for his fourth term at the Fifa congress in Morocco next March. More likely, this tirade will be as close as Infantino ever comes to addressing the issues from the World Cup. A direct social media appeal to the hearts and minds of the people in sickly sub-literate, emotional language will be his justification for never revisiting the controversies.

On the other hand, just like in 2022, at an infamous press conference in Doha before the Qatar World Cup, when Infantino claimed the prejudice and bullying he had faced as a redhead meant he understood what it felt like to be an exploited migrant worker, this stream of unconsciousness amounts to no more than a petulant rant from a thin-skinned sporting overlord unused to criticism.

The concept of nominative determinism, the idea that we live up to our names (‘infantino’ means little child in Italian) has never had more compelling evidence.