Lebanon has granted citizenship to Fifa president Gianni Infantino, the country's football association has said.
It said the decision came from Lebanese President Joseph Aoun during a meeting with Mr Infantino at the presidential palace in Baabda.
The move is likely to anger many in Lebanon, where women cannot pass Lebanese citizenship to their children if the father is foreign. Neither can women pass citizenship to a non-Lebanese husband.
Campaigners have fought for decades to overturn the law without success. Mr Infantino's wife, Lina Al Ashkar, is Lebanese.
A statement from Baabda following the meeting on Tuesday made no reference to the grant of citizenship to Mr Infantino, and Mr Aoun's office did not respond to a request for comment.
But according to the Lebanese Football Association, Mr Aoun told Mr Infantino to complete the necessary legal paperwork so the citizenship decree could be issued later on. The Fifa president already holds Swiss and Italian citizenship.
The LFA said it was a “symbolic” decision that underscored his role in supporting and developing football in Lebanon. Mr Infantino appeared to confirm the move later in comments to Lebanese broadcaster LBCI.
“I don't have [the passport] yet, but soon” said the smiling Fifa chief. “I feel very good, very proud, I feel very happy. I'm Lebanese since many, many years already so it's good that we formalised this as well.”
From a football perspective, he said one thing Lebanon needed was a “state of the art football stadium” of which the whole country would be proud. He said he had mentioned this to Mr Aoun.
Mr Infantino, FIFA's president since 2016, has raised eyebrows by regularly attending events with Middle East politicians that appear to have little to do with football.
Last month he joined world leaders at a peace summit in Egypt where US President Donald Trump proclaimed the ceasefire in Gaza. The Fifa president hailed it as a “historic day”.
Mr Infantino's rapport with Mr Trump has sparked speculation that the US President will be awarded an inaugural Fifa peace prize next month.
