The FIFA President has visited Uzbekistan where he attended the FIFA Futsal World Cup 2024™ final between Brazil and Argentina and thanked the country's sporting and government authorities for their successful hosting of the tournament. Before the final, the FIFA President met the Prime Minister of Uzbekistan, Abdulla Aripov, to discuss football development in the country which has become the first in Central Asia to host a FIFA tournament. FIFA Secretary General Mattias Grafström and FIFA Special Football Advisor Youri Djorkaeff, a FIFA World Cup winner with France in 1998, accompanied Mr Infantino. The FIFA President also met the President of the Uzbekistan Football Association (UFA) Abdulsalom Azizov, the Minister of Sports of the Republic of Uzbekistan Adkham Ikramov, the UFA First Vice President and a former FIFA World Cup™ referee Ravshan Irmatov, the Secretary General of the National Olympic Committee of Uzbekistan (NOC) Oybek Komilov and the Vice-President of the Olympic Council of Asia Otabek Umarov.

Mr Infantino, sitting alongside the Brazilian Football Association (CBF) President and FIFA Council member Ednaldo Rodriques, then watched Brazil claim a record sixth FIFA Futsal World Cup title by beating Argentina 2-1 in the final. Earlier, Ukraine finished third by beating France 7-1. "Congratulations to Brazil on winning the FIFA Futsal World Cup for a record sixth time and also to Argentina for playing a great tournament. All participating teams as well as the fans in this beautiful country of Uzbekistan made this an extremely special tournament - one that I greatly enjoyed attending,” the FIFA President said. “It was also a pleasure meeting Uzbekistan Prime Minister, Abdulla Aripov, to hold football development talks and thank him for supporting our beautiful game in his country.”

Mr Infantino also thanked President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and everyone at the UFA, led by Abdulsalom Azizov. “You are the real winners for welcoming the world to your beautiful country and making them feel at home," he said. A total of around 150,000 people attended matches at the tournament which was broadcast in over 175 territories. The 24 teams, representing all six confederations, included four debutants.

"It's such a fantastic country, a football country, that has made us all feel at home. The organisation was spectacular, the venues were spectacular and we had great matches. It's the best," Mr Infantino added. "It's a football-loving country, the results are there on the pitch, investments are made in women's football, in men's football, for development, that's exactly what we want all over the country. For this reason, for me, Uzbekistan is one of those countries in the world where we can show great examples of what football can do."