San José (United States) (AFP)
FIFA President Gianni Infantino on Tuesday called for "never again" to see the corruption scandals that have rocked world football in recent years and led to the imprisonment of several leaders.
"We never want to relive what we experienced at Fifa, at Concacaf (Confederation of North and Central America, Ed) and Costa Rica," said Infantino at a press conference in Costa Rica, as part of a tour of Central America and the Caribbean.
The leader of FIFA has returned to Fifagate, a huge scandal involving several senior officials of world football that broke out in 2015 before taking office at the head of the body the following year. According to him, this case showed that "football was more than very bad, it was clinically dead".
The former president of the Costa Rican Football Federation (Fedefutbol), Eduardo Li, is among the leaders who have been arrested and convicted in the United States for accepting bribes from sports marketing companies, including exchange of television rights and promotion of continental tournaments, including Copa America and Copa Libertadores.
"There is no turning back if anyone in Costa Rica, Central America, North America or the Caribbean still believes he can come and cheat to get rich against the interests of the football, we do not want these people, "he said.
Infantino also announced that FIFA is studying the possibility of organizing the U-20 Women's World Cup 2021 in Costa Rica and Panama.
"This morning (Tuesday), we talked about the real possibility of organizing the U-20 Women's World Cup in Costa Rica with Panama," said Infantino after discussing the issue with Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado.
The final decision of Fifa for the designation of the host country (s) will be taken in December.
Costa Rica has already hosted the U-17 Women's World Cup in 2014.
© 2019 AFP