It was an honour to be invited to COP29 in beautiful Baku, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in a post on Instagram.

“It was an honour to be invited by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to COP29 in beautiful Baku, where world leaders have gathered to address the vitally important global issue of climate change and how we can work together to tackle it while growing sustainably.

I discussed the future of our planet, as well as that of football, with President Aliyev and the many head of states and government stakeholders present for this conference, which was held inside a football stadium, once more representing football’s power to unite.

As an international organisation, FIFA takes its responsibility to protect the environment and climate seriously. We have developed and implemented programmes to support and contribute to climate action through investments into different internationally certified projects of the highest quality.

I was further pleased to conclude that everyone present has a common objective: our children and their collective future. FIFA will continue playing its part in the important global issue of climate change,” Infantino said.