Fifa asked Australian police in multiple jurisdictions to provide escorts for its president, Gianni Infantino, during his travel for the Women’s World Cup, but was turned down.
Infantino asked Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales police to provide him with escorts, Guardian Australia has confirmed.
In many jurisdictions, the provision of a police escort is generally reserved for foreign dignitaries and heads of state.
Queensland police said it rejected the request to escort Infantino when he was in Brisbane for World Cup matches due to its “unnecessary impact on the community”.
“The Queensland Police Service received a request to provide a police escort for Mr Infantino during his visit to Brisbane for the FWWC 2023,” a spokesperson said. “The request for a police escort was declined (in line with other Australian and NZ jurisdictions) as it would create unnecessary impact on the community.”
Victoria police confirmed it had received a request “for a police escort for a person in relation to the FIFA Women’s World Cup”.
“The request was assessed based on our standard operating procedures and declined,” the spokesperson said. “Victoria Police motorcades and escorts are reserved for internationally protected persons.”
NSW police said it agreed to provide Infantino with a single vehicle, but told Fifa it must pay for the service and that the car would “shadow the on-road movements on match days only”.
Earlier this week, the Guardian revealed that New Zealand police had been asked to give Infantino a police motorcade, but denied the request. A spokesperson said the request for a police escort was “declined after assessing it against standard operating procedures”.
The requests for escorts are understood to be standard practice for Fifa and are made by the organisation, rather than Infantino himself, in part due to traffic management concerns on match days.
Infantino has relied heavily on the use of a private jet to travel between cities in Australia and New Zealand during the tournament. He has also made visits to New Caledonia, Tahiti, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Fiji, Tonga, Cook Islands, Samoa and American Samoa.
The Fifa president gave a speech on women’s football on Friday. Among other things, he told female footballers to “pick the right battles, pick the right fights” and told them “you have the power to convince us men”.
“Here in Australia and New Zealand, we have to start treating men and women or women and men in the same way,” he said. “And I say to all the women – and you know I have four daughters, so I have a few at home – I say to all the women that you have the power to change – pick the right battles, pick the right fights.
“You have the power to convince us men what we have to do and what we don’t have to do. You do it, just do it. With me. We’re Fifa. You will find open doors, just push the doors.”
He railed against Fifa’s critics who opposed the expansion of the World Cup to 32 teams.
“Now I remember when we decided to do that, of course, the usual critics – which are less and less by the way, but there are still a few – they were saying, well, it’s not going to work,” he said. “The level is too different. You will have 15-nothing scores … it will be bad for the image of women’s football.
“I’m sorry, but Fifa was right. Fifa was right, as it happens, quite often in the last years. Fifa was right once more.”
