FIFA President Gianni Infantino and President Guillermo Lasso of Ecuador have met on the sidelines of the 77th United Nations General Assembly in New York City, and held discussions on a variety of football development matters. The meeting follows a visit in October 2021 by Mr Infantino to Ecuador, during which he was highly complementary about the aligned approach between the country’s member association – the Ecuadorian Football Federation (FEF) – and FIFA on the vision for the long-term development of Ecuadorian football.

As well as recounting the previous visit to Ecuador, at the meeting in New York City the two presidents were also able to discuss other joint initiatives between FIFA and the FEF – including when earlier in September 2022 a group of Ecuadorian and Mexican FAs joined together to share refereeing knowledge. The productive two-day session was held in the framework of the partnership agreement signed between the FEF and Mexican Football Association, which benefits from the coordination and technical input of FIFA’s Member Associations Division.

Finally, the two presidents also discussed the upcoming FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ – a tournament Ecuador have the honour of kicking off when the they take on host nation Qatar in the opening game on 20 November 2022.