FIFA president Gianni Infantino made a brief stopover in Dhaka on Sunday, touching down at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on his way from Morocco to Bhutan.

The visit was unofficial, with no football programmes planned during his short stay in Bangladesh.

No direct flights link Morocco with Thimphu, the Bhutanese capital, so Dhaka became the transit point.

Infantino landed shortly after midday and was expected to spend only around two hours in the city before continuing his journey to Bhutan later in the day.

Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) president Tabith Awal and the federation’s vice-presidents greeted him in the airport’s VIP lounge for a courtesy meeting.

The BFF had prepared in advance, its general secretary visiting the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday, October 17, to speed up immigration formalities.

Awal and Infantino had already met about two weeks earlier on the sidelines of the FIFA ASEAN Cup in Indonesia, a tournament in which Bangladesh took part.

Infantino last visited Bangladesh on a one-day trip on October 17, 2019. This stopover, by contrast, carries no official engagements and was due to end within hours, though it gave the BFF leadership a rare chance to greet the head of world football in person.