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The original was posted on /r/soccer by /u/Sparky-moon on 2026-02-24 05:24:35+00:00.
Paulo Fonseca, OL coach, criticizes Gianni Infantino: “Football doesn’t deserve this, it’s a disgrace.”
“We’re going to play against Russia in Moscow when the Ukrainians can’t play on their own turf? The country that’s been invaded can’t compete in European competitions at home, but Russia can? For me, that’s unacceptable,” says Fonseca. “Football can’t solve all problems. But it can help bring more justice to the world. Yet President Infantino is doing the same thing as President Trump. He is looking at economic interests and forgetting about the people.”
When asked about Trump receiving the FIFA Peace Award last December, Fonseca was clear: “Do you know how I felt when I saw that? Shame. It’s so sad, football doesn’t deserve that. It’s a disgrace.”
Four years after the Russian invasion, how do you feel when you think about Ukraine?
I am outraged. The attacks on Ukraine are becoming increasingly severe and deadly. I had hoped that, over time, things would change. But since Mr. Trump returned to power (in January 2025) and promised a quick peace, the situation has gotten much worse. Every day, hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles are falling. The United States has weakened the position of Ukraine and the European Union. And that has made life even more difficult for Ukrainians. I feel more and more outraged.
And your wife?
She feels even more strongly about it than I do. We dream of returning to Ukraine. She dreams of the moment when we can return to a peaceful country, free from danger. She is originally from Donetsk and has been living through this situation since early 2014. She has often told me about what happened in Donetsk at that time. Her family had already been forced to leave their home and move to Kyiv (*), and now she has had to leave Kyiv for Portugal.
A few days after I took my wife’s grandparents to Portugal, their house was completely destroyed. Nothing remains of their town, near Donetsk. My in-laws worked their whole lives to have a home. In 2014, they had to leave everything behind to go to Kiev, where they rebuilt their lives. And four years ago, they had to leave everything behind again. It’s terrible, terrible, very difficult to accept. All Ukrainians are suffering so much, it’s hard to explain, hard to imagine.
(*) In February 2014, pro-Russian Ukrainian separatist forces, supported by Russia, took control of Donbass, the region where Donetsk is located.
And in the days leading up to it, you didn’t imagine that would happen?
No, I didn’t imagine it. The situation was very calm in Kyiv. Few people believed that war would start in Kyiv. People said it would start in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. But that nothing would happen here, at least at first. Even at the Shakhtar club, I remember, people were calm. They didn’t believe it would happen like this.
“A bomb could fall on the school and you would never see your son again (…) Imagine what that would be like.”
What is your actual relationship with Ukraine today?
The friends we have there. I have a great friend who works at Shakhtar, Vitaly. He worked with me in Rome and spent Christmas with us. When Shakhtar came to play in Geneva, I went to see the game. What everyone tells me is that life in Kiev is almost normal in a way. The restaurants are open, there’s a lot of traffic. People have gotten used to it, if you can say that. They have an app on their phones that tells them when drones and missiles are coming, and then they go to the shelters.
They try to live a normal life. But there is no normality. You have a son, you take him to school in the morning and you wonder what might happen at school. A bomb could fall on the building and you would never see your son again. The other day, I saw this baby miraculously rescued from the flames by firefighters… Imagine what it’s like: you go to work and at any moment, a bomb could fall on the place where your family is, especially your children. People try to live a normal life, but I think it’s impossible. It’s a terrible daily life.
You condemn Donald Trump’s foreign policy. Do you think European countries should refuse to participate in the next World Cup in the United States?
I don’t know. The truth is that those of us who love football would like the World Cup to be held somewhere else, not in the United States, not right now. The US president’s position has been to forget and ignore the most disadvantaged and the weakest, and to side with his economic interests. The US president hasn’t thought about people. He’s thought about money. I don’t know if football is the best way to protest against this, but there are things that are unacceptable to me.
It’s like (FIFA) President Infantino thinking that Russia should be allowed to participate in European competitions again. We’re going to play against Russia in Moscow when the Ukrainians can’t play on their own turf? The country that is being invaded can’t compete in European competitions at home, but Russia can? For me, that’s unacceptable. Football can’t solve all problems. But it can help bring more justice to the world. Yet President Infantino is doing the same thing as President Trump. He looks at economic interests and forgets about the people.