Gianni Infantino promised to continue the close collaboration between FIFA and the Qatar Football Association (QFA) when he met its President HE Jassim Rashid Al Buenain in Paris. During the meeting, the two leaders shared memories of the FIFA World Cup 2022™ in Qatar and discussed the FIFA U-17 World Cup™ which will be expanded to 48 teams and held annually from 2025. Qatar will host the first five editions of the new-look competition.

"It was great to meet the President of the Qatar Football Association, Jassim Rashid Al Buenain," Mr Infantino said. "We had the chance to reminisce about the glory of the 2022 FIFA World Cup and I congratulated him on their AFC Asian Cup victory back in February. We also looked forward to Qatar staging its third global FIFA tournament after the FIFA Council, in March, awarded the Gulf state multi-year hosting rights to the FIFA U-17 World Cup. "It’s an exciting time for football in Qatar and I am excited to continue working closely with the football association to realise the full potential of our beautiful sport in the country."