Davos [Switzerland], January 22 : FIFA President Gianni Infantino said that football is more than just a sport and is a "magic instrument" that brings people together. While speaking at the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting 2026 in Davos, Infantino, along with Alessandro Del Piero and Arsene Wenger, spoke about the global impact of the sport.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino, former Italian player Alessandro Del Piero, and former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, now the Chief of Global Football Development at FIFA, joined leaders in Davos to discuss what makes football so special and what to expect from the 2026 tournament.
Gianni Infantino said that football is a unique "magic instrument" that unites people across borders, bringing joy to children and adults alike. He highlighted how the joint World Cup bid by the US, Mexico, and Canada symbolised cooperation when there were talks of building a wall between the US and Mexico.
"This is a magic instrument (while holding a football) that transforms people in happy people. This is what this strange instrument does. And children, the children's faces become happy and adults become children and they start playing, passing the ball. This is fantastic, this is beautiful and this is something that we are forgetting. Dear friends, ladies and gentlemen, in these particular times we forget to be happy, to be joyful. Everyone has their own problems, issues in life and with football we want to give to communities all over the world. FIFA has 211 countries which are members of FIFA. We want to give them a moment of joy and happiness. When a child kicks a ball, when an adult kicks a ball, they don't think about their issues and their problems in life and we have to always remember that," Infantino said.
The FIFA president highlighted that the World Cup has a huge economic impact, worth around $80 billion and creates hundreds of thousands of permanent jobs. He also pointed out that the joint bid by the United States, Canada, and Mexico showed how football can unite countries and overcome political tensions, demonstrating the "magic" of the sport and the World Cup trophy.
"The economic impact of the World Cup is around $80 billion, and this is not FIFA saying, this is the World Trade Organisation saying it. It's 825 full-time jobs, permanent full-time jobs created for salaries or of over $20 billion. It is a great impact, of course, in the three host countries: the United States, Canada, and Mexico-three countries that were bidding together to get the World Cup in a time when there were discussions about building walls between Mexico and the United States. Well, during this period, those countries were working together in a joint bid to host the World Cup. This says it all about the magic of this ball, and of this trophy."
Del Piero spoke about the role football played in his life growing up and how winning the FIFA World Cup with his country in 2006 made him feel complete not only as a footballer but also as a human being.
"It's not very difficult, but we probably need more time to explain how big lifting the trophy and winning the World Cup means to me, to every football player, I guess. I mean, first of all, you feel complete. You feel complete as a footballer, of course, and also as a human being. I say both because, you know, I started playing because I had a passion for football. My only focus was playing football, even though I have to say that I needed to go to school and be a good student, and blah, blah, blah--but yeah, it's part of the journey. Football was always in my mind: trying to become a football player, but also just enjoying it. And then, as soon as you grow up, you understand, of course, different things," he said.
Wenger explained that football has grown enormously since the first World Cup, expanding from a small, Europe-South America-focused competition into a truly global sport. He said the huge worldwide demand for football makes it a must to continue opening up to more African and Asian countries to ensure football is strong and inclusive everywhere.
'100 years ago you had 13 teams playing in the first World Cup and it shows football's development. I'm now in football development and I realize how big football has become in the world. When you speak about the number of tickets people want, you cannot imagine. I travel all over the world and football has become the most important thing people talk about. And to me, for a long time, it was a confidential competition between Europe and South America. We had to open it to the world and I think it's a minimum we could do is to open to more African countries, more Asian countries. Because you want football to be strong everywhere," he stated.
The World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting 2026 is taking place in Davos, Switzerland, under the theme "A Spirit of Dialogue." Davos 2026 is being described as one of the most high-level gatherings in the history of the annual meeting.