Lebanon’s citizenship offer for FIFA head sparks debate over equal rights

Lebanon’s president has announced he will grant citizenship to FIFA President Gianni Infantino, sparking a wave of outrage.

Beatrice Farhat
Beatrice Farhat
Nov 26, 2025
CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images
FIFA President Gianni Infantino speaks at the American Business Forum at the Kaseya Center in Miami on Nov. 5, 2025. — CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images

BEIRUT — Lebanese President Joseph Aoun announced on Tuesday that FIFA President Gianni Infantino would be granted Lebanese citizenship, sparking outrage on social media at a time Lebanese women are still unable to pass citizenship on to their children.

Infantino, accompanied by his Lebanese wife, Lina al-Ashkar, arrived in Beirut on Monday for a two-day visit, his first since 2019. He met on Tuesday with Minister of Youth and Sports Nora Bayrakdarian and held talks with officials from the Lebanese Football Association to discuss FIFA support for the development of soccer infrastructure and stadiums in Lebanon.

Infantino, 55, already holds dual Swiss and Italian citizenship. He has been married to Ashqar, who previously worked at the LFA, since 2001. 

Infantino also met with President Joseph Aoun and LFA head Hashem Haidar in Baabda. During the meeting, he announced plans by his organization to finance the construction of a new state-of-the-art soccer stadium with a 20,000 to 30,000 seating capacity in Lebanon, the LFA said in a statement.

He also presented Aoun with the official ball of the 2026 World Cup, set to take place in the United States, Canada and Mexico in the summer.

According to the LFA statement, Aoun said he would give Infantino Lebanese citizenship in “a symbolic move that affirms Lebanon's appreciation for his role in developing the sport and his ongoing support for Lebanese soccer.”

Infantino expressed his appreciation for Aoun and his decision in an Instagram post. “I am deeply honoured by the warm welcome, for being given Lebanese nationality and am proud to call this beautiful country my own,” he wrote.

Speaking to the local LBCI news station on Tuesday, Infantino said he will officially receive citizenship soon. “I feel very proud; I feel very happy. And I’m Lebanese since many, many years already, so it’s good that we formalize this as well,” he added.

Controversy over discriminatory law

The decision to grant Infantino citizenship revived a long-standing debate about Lebanon's nationality law, issued 100 years ago during the French Mandate, that prevents Lebanese women married to foreigners from conferring citizenship on to their spouses and children.

Article 1 of the Lebanese Nationality Law of 1925 stipulates that “every person born of a Lebanese father” is considered Lebanese.

In 1960, Article 5 of the law was amended to allow foreign women married to Lebanese men to become Lebanese citizens. But the amendments did not apply to Lebanese women.

For decades activists and rights groups have been advocating for amending the law, which they view as discriminatory and patriarchal. Most recently, in September, member of parliament Cynthia Zarazir submitted a bill requesting the addition of “mother” to Article 1, but it never made it to a vote.

Lebanese officials have long argued that amending the law risks shifting the sectarian balance in the country, amid concerns it would be used to advance the permanent settlement of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon should Lebanese women married to Palestinians be allowed to confer them citizenship.

According to the latest data available from the United Nations Development Programme in 2008, about 77,400 people, including men, women and children, are affected by the current law. Thousands of children born to Lebanese mothers and foreign fathers and living in Lebanon face numerous legal issues, including having to renew their legal residency every one to three years. They are denied access to public health care, education and certain jobs.

Many Lebanese took to social media on Tuesday, lashing out at Aoun for granting citizenship to Infantino while women are still denied equal citizenship rights. 

Journalist Dima Sadek wrote on X, “In Lebanon, a woman is not allowed to pass on her Lebanese nationality to her children, unless her husband is a high-ranking Iranian mujahid or the president of FIFA.”

Sadek was referring to reports that Hezbollah’s second-in-command, Ali Tabatabai, who was killed in an Israeli strike in Beirut on Sunday, held Lebanese citizenship despite his father being Iranian.

Under the 1925 law, Lebanese citizenship may be granted to “a foreigner who offers to Lebanon highly significant services” by presidential decree.  

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Lebanon War Women’s rights Sports