Gianni Infantino has orchestrated one of the most controversial World Cups in history.
Given that this is a competition whose hosts have included Benito Mussolini’s Italy, an Argentina under the rule of a brutal military junta and, more recently, Russia four years post-Crimea annexation and Qatar, who used indentured labor to build its stadiums, that is saying something.
It is the naked commercialism of this World Cup, now into the semi-final stage, that initially occupied so many column inches, air time and smartphone pixels.
The tournament in the US, Canada and Mexico is expected to help FIFA’s revenues grow to $13bn in the current four-year cycle, up from $7.5bn in the previous cycle.
But it is the apparent interference of Donald Trump’s White House in this summer’s World Cup which, for many fans, has been the final straw.
Trump’s call to Infantino to cajole the FIFA president into overturn leading light Folarin Balogun’s red card for the USMNT’s round-of-16 meeting with Belgium, which the host nation ultimately lost 4-1, is now a matter of public record.
Infantino says that the telephone conversation had no bearing whatsoever on the decision made by FIFA disciplinary chairman Mohammad al Kamali.
But whatever the reality, the optics have been appalling for world soccer’s governing body, especially set against the context of Infantino having cozied up to Trump since his re-election in November 2024.
Publicly, many fans are calling on Infantino to step down. Privately, several member nations are saying the same.
Infantino courting votes with World Cup expansion plan to hang onto FIFA presidency amid Trump backlash
Infantino may not be the most popular among fans, but it is not fans who give him his mandate as FIFA president.
FIFA’s constitution operates under a one country, one vote system.
In that setup, Cape Verde (population 530,000) have the same voting rights as the United States (population 349 million; as do Montserrat (200 registered footballers) and Germany (6 million registered footballers). When it comes to electing the president, each of the 211 member FAs have an equal say.
Until last week, for example, the English FA was reportedly ready to vote for Infantino when he stands for re-election in 2027. But after UEFA, the game’s governing body in Europe, said FIFA had “crossed a red line” with its handling of the Trump-Balogun incident and many other stakeholders have expressed their concerns about Infantino’s integrity, their stance is now less certain.
The timing of Infantino appearing to suggest that another expansion of the World Cup to 64 teams is, therefore, interesting. “These are all issues that we will be examining after the World Cup,” he told Swiss media when asked about the possibility of adding a further 16 teams to the tournament from 2030.
The 2026 World Cup is already the biggest ever, with 48 teams taking part for the first time ever. The event expanded from 24 to 32 teams in 1998. If the history books show that the tournament doubled in size between 2022 and 2030, it will surely be seen as the biggest overhaul in World Cup history, with Infantino its architect.
“When organising a World Cup,” Infantino continued, “it’s important to organise it for the whole world – not just Europe and South America, but effectively the entire world. Every nation should be allowed to dream of participating in the World Cup.
“You can see that the quality of the teams is extremely high, and it’s getting higher and higher, all over the world. If you don’t give smaller countries a chance to participate in the World Cup, they’ll lack the incentive to keep improving.”
Giving more of the smaller nations a greater chance to qualify for the World Cup is a guaranteed vote winner. And it means the chances of Infantino being booted out as a result of his dalliance with the US president are tiny as a result.
And while the most commercial World Cup in history has offended many supporters, there is little chance of the tide turning against Infantino among FIFA’s various football associations so long as the money hose is still turned on.
