Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met on Tuesday, September 20, 2022, with FIFA President Gianni Infantino in New York on the sidelines of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly in New York.
Erdogan and Infantino met behind closed doors at the Turkish House. During the meeting, Infantino presented the Turkish President with the official ball of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar with the inscription “Recep Tayyip Erdogan”, Anadolu news agency reported. While the Turkish state channel TRT published part of the video clip, Infantino hands Erdogan the World Cup ball and tells him: “This is a unique ball that you will not find in the world, there is only one. “This is the official ball of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar,” the FIFA president added to the Turkish president, holding the ball before Erdogan’s headbutt.
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Al Jazeera also released a one-minute and 12-second video clip in which Erdoğan appears telling Infantino “I will go to Qatar” to which the second replies “You have to do it.” To the question of FIFA President Erdogan: “Do you play football?”, the Turkish President replied: “Yes … Who will I play with? Are we going to play with the same team?” Infantino replied: “Of course, with the same team.” The Turkish President added: “What about Tamim?” To which the President of the International Football Association replied: “Yes, Tamim too… although he plays tennis, there is no problem,” he said. According to the Anadolu agency, the Turkish House building is one of the Republic of Turkey’s largest foreign real estate investments since its inception, worth more than $291 million, and is located opposite the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
