Infantino Plays A Unique Brand Of Political Futbol With Trump And FIFA

By Michael Lewis

FIFA President Gianni Infantino reportedly has visited U.S. President Donald Trump 10 times since December.

Yes, 10 times, including as a guest at Trump's inauguration in January.

That is a lot, even for a traditional American politician in Washington, D.C.

But Infantino is far from a traditional politician as the president of a worldwide organization that rules over the beautiful game. You might say he is always playing a unique brand of ahem, political futbol, especially when it concerns his baby, the FIFA World Cup.

But Infantino has angered some of his FIFA colleagues. We’ll get to that shortly.

Of course, he wants to curry favor as much as possible with Trump because the U.S. is hosting not one, but two major international soccer tournaments over the next 13 to 14 months.

Starting on June 14, the FIFA Club World Cup will be held at a dozen venues here, presenting 36 of the best soccer teams in the world, including the likes of Inter Milan, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Juventus.

In 2026, the FIFA World Cup is expected to dominate North America as the USA, Mexico and Canada will host 48 teams that June and July.

There is much at stake in both competitions, especially for FIFA, which hopes to add billions of dollars to its coffers, especially from the World Cup.

Potential problems and headaches, however, lie ahead for both tournaments.

2025 Club World Cup

The Club World Cup is not as well-known as the men's World Cup, which has a treasured history forged by great players such as Pele, Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi, which goes back almost a century to its very first tourney in 1930. The Club World Cup will bring together several top teams on the planet, including Inter Milan, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Juventus. But there are some sides from lesser-known soccer playing countries that have teams that are not in the orbit. Can they excite fans to show up?

Ticket sales have lagged in some cities. For example, Philadelphia Inquirer sportswriter Jonathan Tannenwald noted on Bluesky that FIFA was advertising on billboards in Philadelphia. In all of this writer's decades of covering soccer, it is difficult to remember seeing billboard advertising happen so close to the kickoff of a major international tournament in the USA.

FIFA's bank account is fueled by these huge international tournaments, and not surprisingly, the FIFA World Cup is expected to be the big moneymaker, bringing in a haul of billions to the organization, and help boost the local and national economies of Mexico, Canada and the USA.

On May 14, Infantino told Reuters that the 2027 Women’s World Cup, which will be hosted by Brazil, is expected to have a record $1 billion revenue. While that number is dwarfed by the men's competition, it must be remembered that the women's game has grown considerably over the past three decades and is expected to continue to surge in popularity and its acceptance in all corners of the globe.

Infantino told Reuters that there was “massive potential for football to generate more revenue outside Europe ... If the rest of the world, in particular Saudi Arabia or the United States of America, would do just 20 percent of what Europe does in soccer, we [could reach an amount of over] half a trillion [dollars] or more of GDP impact [with our sport].”

Potential headaches for 2026 World Cup

Closer to home, however, potential roadblocks and headaches lie ahead in the U.S.

The elephant in the room is the Trump administration's border policy, which has stirred fear, controversy and outrage, depending which side you are on the political spectrum.

The Trump administration has deported immigrants without due process and has detained foreigners at the U.S. border.

During a May 6 announcement by President Trump that Andrew Guiliani, the son of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani would be leading a task force for the 2026 World Cup, Vice President JD Vance made an attempt at humor about tourists visiting the USA on a visa next year.

“We’ll have visitors from close to 100 countries,” Vance said. “We want them to come; we want them to celebrate. We want them to watch the game. But when the time is up, they’ll have to go home, otherwise they’ll have to talk to [Homeland Security] Secretary [Kristi] Noem.”

Many observers, soccer and otherwise, were not laughing.

Infantino has dismissed concerns that tourists will encounter problems, coming or going next year.

“America is a welcoming country,” he was quoted by the Washington Post in April, during a promotional visit to Washington, D.C. for the Club World Cup. “America welcomes the world. Fans from all over the world will come. … They will be welcome here. America welcomes the world. That’s how it has been, is and will be.”

Middle East trip controversy

This week, Infantino traveled to the Mideast and visited Qatar and Saudi Arabia with Trump. Qatar hosted the 2022 World Cup and Saudi Arabia, which will hold the competition in 2034.

According to The Athletic, Infantino was scheduled to preside over a ceremony in which the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, will hand World Cup hosting duties to Trump.

Infantino's decision to put his personal politics over FIFA business caused a major uproar at the FIFA Congress in Luque, outside Asuncion, Paraguay on Thursday. His tardy arrival caused a two-hour delay and European delegates, including UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin, staged a walkout.

UEFA, the European federation, issued a harsh statement following the walkout.

"The FIFA congress is one of the most important meetings in world football, where all the 211 nations in the world's game gather to discuss issues that affect the sport right across the world," the statement said. "To have the timetable changed at the last minute for what appears to be simply to accommodate private political interests, does the game no service and appears to put its interests second.

"We are all in post to serve football; from the streets to the podium, and UEFA members of the FIFA Council felt the need on this occasion to make a point that the game comes first and to leave as originally scheduled."

Infantino issued an apology.

"As FIFA president, my responsibility is to make decisions in the best interests of the organization ... I felt I had to be there to represent football and all of you," Infantino said of his visit to the Middle East, according to Agence France-Presse.

Whether Infantino will pay a political price inside FIFA remains to be seen.

Will the FIFA president continue to visit Trump and the White House and somehow anger his federation compatriots even more?

Or will he find a way to calm the waters?

One thing is likely:

This political soap opera is not over yet.