Philipp Lahm claims FIFA president Gianni Infantino is not exploiting the game

Former Germany captain Philipp Lahm has ripped into FIFA president Gianni Infantino, accusing him of “exploiting the game”.

Lahm – who is currently helping the German Football Association prepare for the 2024 Euros – also slammed Infantino for a “lack of integrity”.

He said it was important to bring their “values ​​back to the fore” at Euro 2024 and insisted the change would only happen if there was “openness” in the future.

Former Germany captain Philipp Lahm (above) has fallen out with FIFA president Gianni Infantino

Lahm, who won the 2014 World Cup, accused Infantino of “exploiting the game”

In his column for the editorial network Germany (RND), via Sports 1Lahm said: “FIFA continued to lose credibility with the top representative.

“Increasingly, one gets the impression that Gianni Infantino is not looking for the best solution for football and that he simply has no integrity.”

Lahm continued: “Infantino doesn’t give the impression that he wants to change anything. He takes advantage of the game.

“It is a problem for FIFA, a European institution, not for football. And this can only be changed by ultimately relying on a rational and transparent procurement process in the future.

Lahm – who is currently helping the German Football Association prepare for the 2024 Euros – also slammed Infantino (above) for a lack of integrity.

Lahm – pictured playing in Germany – wants to use the 2024 Euro as a platform for change

Lahm went on to talk about how the 2024 euro should be a platform for change. He wants to bring our values ​​back to the fore and above all the game. In a democratic country – and I think people want that.

Seven days before the start of the World Cup in Qatar, Lahm said it was a “mistake” to award the tournament to the Gulf Arab nation.

He wrote in column for Zeit Online that the World Cup “does not belong” to Qatar, and he criticized the country’s human rights record.

Lahm acknowledged that some progress has been made, “but homosexuals are still criminalized, women do not have the same rights as men, and freedom of the press and speech are restricted.” He added that conditions for migrant workers are “disastrous”.

Infantino recently confirmed that FIFA will launch a 32-team men’s World Cup in 2025

Chelsea are the current reigning champions of the FIFA Club World Cup after defeating Palmeiras in February.

Lahm, who won the World Cup with Germany in 2014, criticized FIFA for awarding the tournament to Qatar in 2010 when he said there were better candidates available.

“FIFA has damaged football and its credibility as a Western organization,” said Lahm, who also questioned Qatar’s enthusiasm for the sport. Soccer is not a popular sport in Qatar and girls have virtually no chance to play.

WhileInfantino gave an extraordinary speech before the tournament. He said: “Today I have very strong feelings, today I feel Qatari, today I feel Arab, today I feel African, today I feel gay, today I feel disabled, today I feel migrant.”

He continued: “Of course I’m not Qatari, I’m not Arab, I’m not African, I’m not gay, I’m not disabled. But I feel like that because I know what it means to be discriminated against, to be bullied.

Infantino also dealt with migrant deaths in preparation for the World Cup. He said: “Every person who dies is one person too many, it’s a tragedy for everyone.

“We have to be very precise about the numbers and careful about how they are presented. For me and for us, every loss of life is a tragedy. Everything we can do to protect the workers, we did it.

Infantino has recently confirmed that FIFA will launch a 32-team men’s Club World Cup in 2025 – four years after the proposed tournament failed in China due to the pandemic.

At a press conference ahead of the Argentina-France final, the FIFA president dropped several bombshells when he claimed that Qatar 2022 was “the best World Cup ever”.

The FIFA president said: “It is a 32-team Club World Cup every four years, with the first edition in the summer of 2025. They are the best teams in the world that have been invited to participate.”