FIFA President Gianni Infantino has told participants of the third edition of the FIFA Diploma in Club Management in New York, United States that the leaders of club football, including coaches and former players, should always protect and cherish the game. The FIFA Diploma in Club Management is aimed at current club executives, former international players and coaches currently working for a club in a managerial position, and is designed to provide them with the practical skills and foresight they will need to remain one step ahead. Participants acquire the confidence, skills and knowledge needed to drive their club forward and to help FIFA elevate the professionalism of the global game. Mr Infantino began by expressing his admiration for those looking for a new role in the game. "The fact that all of you have decided to embrace this adventure of giving something back to football after many of you had an incredible career and are still having an incredible career - to decide to learn, to improve yourself, to become better, to share with others - I think this is really priceless, and this goes all to your credit," he said.

Emphasising that their priority should be to "always protect the game, always care about the game, always cherish football,” he said: ”We always have to protect… the love of the game, the passion for the game. We always have to think about… especially we, when we are leading or organising, or being in an executive function – and this what you are all here to be prepared for.” Football, he added, had a unique power to make people happy. ”I cannot think about any other sector in life where we could work, operate and do something that makes people happy. What other sector is there, right, that has this power to make people happy? So, we are privileged to be working, to be operating, to be living in an area which has to do with this,” he said.

Having spent 10 days in Los Angeles, the programme has moved to New York for the final stages of the inaugural 32-team FIFA Club World Cup™ - a competition which the FIFA President said was necessary to provide more opportunities for more players to perform on the global stage. Participants in the FIFA Players Executive Programme, which looks to support players away from the pitch while also getting more players and coaches into high-level positions in football management, also took part. A number of players with FIFA World Cup™ and FIFA Women's World Cup™ experience were among those to start the courses, including Casemiro, David Luiz, Thiago Silva and Fernandinho (Brazil), David Ospina (Colombia), Guillermo Ochoa (Mexico), Rodrigo de Paul (Argentina), Eric Abidal (France), Thiago Alcantara (Spain), Hayley Raso (Australia) and Giorgio Chiellini and Elena Linari (Italy). "Suddenly, we create a competition which puts clubs – which are huge clubs in their countries – on a global map and also their players [onto] a global map, which was not the case before. Some huge Brazilian clubs are huge in Brazil. Outside of Brazil, some fans know them, but not the big masses,” he said. “And they never have been given the opportunity to really play in a competition against some of these other big clubs – especially, of course, from Europe.”