FIFA was going through questions immediately over why the restaurateur was allowed on the pitch following embarrassing scenes on the showpiece closing, The Sun studies.
Gary Lineker known as Salt Bae a “pest” and former FA chairman Greg Dyke laid into world soccer boss Gianni Infantino as fury grew worldwide.
The Turkish cook dinner and Instagram star – actual title Nusret Gökçe – was seen carrying a FIFA VIP badge spherical his neck on Sunday night time.
Footage exhibits him pestering the Argentina squad as they celebrated their Cup glory with their households after the nailbiting shootout.
He was seen grabbing maintain of Lionel Messi by the shoulder at the very least twice because the baffled megastar tried to shrug him off.
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Bae’s persistence paid off as he lastly bought a selfie with the striker hailed the best of all time.
The chef was additionally seen forcing himself into line-ups of different stars as they clutched the well-known golden trophy.
At one level he was seen snatching it from Lisandro Martínez, who gave an ungainly sideways look on the weird interruption.
Gökçe additionally pretended to do his trademark salt-sprinkling trick over the trophy as irritated gamers stood by.
In one other clip, Salt Bae is seen shaking his finger in a scolding gesture when Cristian Romero’s child tried to the touch the trophy.
Instead the chef pulled it away, kissed it and raised it above his head like a champion.
He additionally posted a sequence of boastful pics on his Instagram web page, displaying him pawing and kissing the 18-carat gold trophy.
The disgraceful spectacle reportedly broke FIFA’s guidelines, which say solely former winners and heads of state can deal with the $30m prize.
BBC host Gary Lineker shared footage of his consideration looking for antics, saying: “He’s such a pest.”
Greg Dyke stated: “I don’t think Fifa and Infantino have come out of this very well.”
FIFA has reportedly refused to say if Salt Bae was granted entry to the pitch.
If he was given “access all areas” accreditation, that may open the governing physique to allegations of cronyism or particular remedy for Infantino’s mates, studies The Times.
Gökçe is claimed to be friends with controversial FIFA chief Infantino, who praised him as “number one” after visiting his Qatar steak home through the match.
“Football unites the world and Nusret unites the world as well,” Infantino stated.
Infantino was additionally filmed doing the salt sprinkling himself in a cringe-worthy video at Gökçe’s Dubai restaurant in 2020.
Other VIP friends on the closing included Twitter billionaire Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
And French president Emmanuel Macron was slammed for his embarrassing makes an attempt to console dropping hat-trick hero Kylian Mbappe.
The chef was slammed on Twitter as “pathetic” for his consideration looking for antics, which have been additionally described because the “cringiest thing ever”.
“The man’s just won the World Cup literally minutes prior and this ‘celebrity’ is feeling he’s entitled to get his attention,” stated one Twitter consumer.
“You shouldn’t touch the Cup. You’re not a champion,” was a second remark.
Another livid Instagram consumer stated he was “unfollowing” the Turkish chef.
“You shouldn’t have touched that trophy only the players and staff who worked their a***s off to become champions have that right.
“You only want attention.”
Continuing the theme one publish learn: “This is the time for players who have worked hard and not for celebrities to hang around and take selfies for their own promo.”
Salt Bae isn’t the one movie star to have fallen foul of FIFA etiquette.
Rihanna was pictured holding the prize again in 2014 and later revealed she had kissed and posed for a selfie with the well-known trophy.
Salt Bae shot to fame in 2017 when a video of him lovingly getting ready a steak by theatrically sprinkling a handful of salt crystals rapidly went viral.
Nusret then grew to become a star in his personal proper, cooking for celebrities like David Beckham, Leonardo DiCaprio, and DJ Khaled.
He opened his first Nusr-Et steakhouse in Istanbul in 2010.
– This article initially appeared in The Sun and was republished with permission.
Originally revealed as Salt Bae snatches World Cup trophy to shamelessly carry out trademark ‘sprinkle’ as fury over pitch invasion grows