January 03, (THEWILL) – Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, has come under criticism for taking a selfie with Pele’s former teammates in front of the Brazil legend’s coffin at his wake on Monday.
Pele, who is considered one of the greatest soccer players of all time, died last Thursday, at the age of 82 after a battle with cancer.
Infantino defended his actions in an Instagram post, saying that he was “honoured and humbled” when Pele’s teammates and family members asked him to take photos with them. He added that he took the selfie at their request, and only did so to be helpful to Pele’s teammates, who didn’t know how to do it themselves.
“If being helpful to a team-mate of Pele creates criticism I’m happy to take it and will continue to be helpful wherever I can to those having contributed to write legendary pages of football,” he wrote.
Infantino emphasized that he has “so much respect and admiration” for Pele and would never do anything disrespectful.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
