FIFA Boss Gianni Infantino Jets In To Watch Korean 'Ghost Derby'

If Son Heung-min scores and there's nobody there to watch it, did he really score? This question will remain hypothetical after the 2022 World Cup qualifying match between North Korea and South Korea ended nil-nil. South Korean fans weren't allowed to travel to the match and North Korea didn't allow their own people to watch the match, so the game was played out in front of an empty Kim Il Sung Stadium in Pyongyang.

Well, almost empty. FIFA boss Gianni Infantino was in the 'crowd', and was photographed in Pyongyang wearing a North Korean lapel, after reportedly flying in on a chartered jet to watch the game.

That's a much easier journey than South Korea had. They had to travel via Beijing and only had the shortest possible amount of time to train on the artificial pitch before the match.

Despite that, it was a fascinating end-to-end game, or it was a dull affair where both teams passed the ball around their own halves for 90 minutes, fans will find out in a couple of days' time. For now, all they know is that there were no goals, four substitutions, and four yellow cards (two for each team).

Despite South Korea's best efforts, North Korea refused to allow the game to be shown live. They also didn't allow South Korean media to attend the match. So even though the historic match was the first time in almost 30 years that South Korea has been played in Pyongyang, the rest of the world had to rely on intermittent updates on cards and substitutions sent from KFA officials in the stadium. Even FIFA, who didn't have a reporter in Pyongyang, had to rely on these updates.

The Asian Football Confederation's regulations grant media rights to the host country for qualifying matches, so there's little that the AFC can do to force a country to broadcast games. This oversight allows North Korea not to broadcast its home matches. They have reportedly said they will give South Korea a DVD of the game.

Soccer is supposed to be run without political influence. But this match seems to be yet another example of politics interfering in soccer with North Korea ignoring South Korea's repeated (and perhaps naive) attempts to discuss the logistics for the match and efforts to televise the game. Infantino's presence at the match suggests that he tacitly accepts how North Korea organized this match.

By doing the absolute bare minimum, North Korea wouldn't have endeared themselves to anyone outside the country, and the move weakens the any plans for a joint Korean 2032 Olympics or 2023 Womens' World Cup.

Which begs the question, why did Gianni Infantino make the last minute decision to attend the match?

If he wanted to play peacemaker then he could have used his position to push for more media access to the match. Instead, his decision to arrive on a private jet and be one of the only spectators to a match that millions wanted to watch only adds to the impression that he is out of touch with most soccer fans.