Trump speaks up for Infantino at last as Fifa boss fights world football rebellion
US president Donald Trump has belatedly come to the aid of Gianni Infantino, saying it would be “a terrible mistake” to replace the under-fire Fifa boss.
Infantino is fighting to save his job after three of Fifa’s four biggest confederations declared they had lost trust in him over plans to sell off stakes in a new company that would own the commercial rights to the World Cup.
He retains the support of Africa and South America ahead of next year’s elections and has now received backing from political ally Trump, with whom he struck up a close relationship as the US prepared to host the 2025 Club World Cup and 2026 World Cup.
“Fifa would be making a terrible mistake if, for any reason, they even considered replacing President Gianni Infantino,” Trump wrote on social media.
“He is fantastic, having just presided over the most successful World Cup, by four times, ever presented. If he is gone, it will never be as successful or profitable again!”
Fifa has undergone a period of expansion during Infantino’s decade as president, growing the men’s and women’s World Cup and turning the Club World Cup into a 32-team tournament held every four years.
But that has caused friction with regional confederations, chiefly Europe’s Uefa, as well as leagues, clubs and players unhappy at sometimes unilateral decision making about the global football calendar and its impacts on them.
Infantino’s plan to create a spin-off commercial entity, Fifa Forward Enterprise, and raise $4bn by selling 20 per cent of it to private investors proved a bridge too far, however, and sparked a furious backlash that forced him to shelve the idea.
That those investors included Joshua Kushner, brother of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, only heightened anger and led to accusations from Uefa that Infantino was attempting to enrich himself and his friends.
Infantino resisting calls to quit Fifa
Fifa has defended the plans as an opportunity to increase distributions to all member nations and equalise resources across the game. Critics have questioned why it cannot do so anyway given it sits on billions of dollars in reserves.
This summer’s World Cup is projected to increase Fifa’s revenue to $15bn for the 2023-26 cycle, helped by the highest ticket prices in the competition’s history.
Infantino’s opponents hope to persuade him to stand down but he has shown no signs of doing so since the storm broke two weeks ago.
Last week Fifa strongly denied that Infantino had sought support from Trump, to whom he awarded the first ever Fifa Peace Prize last year.