FIFA chief likely to visit Bangladesh by March

FIFA President Gianni Infantino expressed his interest in visiting Bangladesh within the next two months and also hoped to provide funding for the country's women's football

The FIFA president made these comments during a meeting with Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

Infantino praised Yunus' ideas in making sports carbon neutral and said the FIFA would help develop soccer in the South Asian region.

'I want to visit Bangladesh in the next two months," Infantino told Yunus.

He added that FIFA would like to fund women's football in Bangladesh after the Chief Adviser sought his support to build facilities such as dormitories and other infrastructures for Bangladeshi women footballers.

Infantino said that FIFA would also help women's football in Saudi Arabia and added that the Bangladeshi diaspora in the kingdom will also benefit from the FIFA move.

Infantino regretted that he could not visit Bangladesh during the ongoing youth festival despite being invited.

Lamiya Morshed, the SDG coordinator of the Bangladesh government, and Tareq Ariful Islam, the Bangladesh envoy in Geneva, also attended the meeting.