FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, met the President of Colombia, Iván Duque Márquez, to discuss several topics in which FIFA and Colombia will work together. “I was delighted to have the opportunity to discuss football’s role in promoting healthy lifestyles, as we well as the development of educational and solidarity projects” said President Infantino. On the fringes of the Expo Dubai 2021, one specific project discussed was an all-star football match. "We are just setting it up,” the Colombian President told media. “We want to play a game featuring great stars, to generate a mobilization of international aid for the migrant population.
"Migration is one the biggest challenges the world is facing. There are millions of people who need to be cared for. We were talking (with President Infantino) about what it has meant to support almost 1.8 million migrants in Colombia, the process of temporary protection status and how many of the world’s greatest footballers in the major leagues have been the children of migrants." President Infantino and President Duque Márquez previously met in Barranquilla last month at the inauguration of the brand-new sports headquarters of the Colombian Football Federation (FCF). The impressive new home of the Colombia national teams will serve as a training base for all of Colombia’s FIFA World Cup qualifiers ahead of the tournament next year in Qatar. The major investment was supported by FIFA Forward funding, and CONMEBOL’s Evolution programme.
Speaking at the launch, President Duque Márquez said: “This beautiful sport has majestic values: fair play, team work, discipline, commitment, but also creativity, innovation, and the power to grow up on the shoulder of giants.” In 2020, the FIFA President launched his Vision 2020-23, with eleven core goals. Two of those eleven relate to ‘Protecting positive values in football’ and to ‘Impact society through the power of football.’
Speaking earlier this year to the UN Chronicle on the occasion of the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace, President Infantino said: “Football and society have a symbiotic relationship: what is good for society is good for football and vice versa. FIFA is at the service of society, and we will continue to play any role we can.”