Let me tell you something. When I find out one of my kids’ coaches tried to secretly sell the team’s equipment to some private equity firm and pocket the cash, I don’t give that man a glowing reference. I call the league office. I show up at the board meeting. I ask questions. But I’m just a mom with a minivan and a sense of smell, so what do I know about how the big boys operate?
Here’s what happened, and I did my own research on this, so stick with me. Gianni Infantino, the Swiss lawyer who runs FIFA, got caught trying to sell off a chunk of the World Cup to private investors. Not a rumor. Not a conspiracy theory. His own plan, leaked on July 28, would have created a brand-new company to manage all the commercial and ticketing rights for every FIFA competition, then handed 21% of it to a private investment firm. He valued the whole thing at $20 billion and figured he’d pull in $4.2 billion from the deal. This summer’s World Cup brought in a record $9 billion on its own, by the way. But I guess that wasn’t enough.
Rhododendrites (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia CommonsThree of the biggest confederations in world football, UEFA, CONCACAF, and the Asian Football Confederation, sent an open letter calling it what it is. They said Infantino broke trust “through deception.” UEFA called it “a shabby, opaque, backroom deal.” Those are their words, not mine. UEFA even threatened to boycott the World Cup if the plan went through. That’s how bad it was. Infantino had to withdraw the whole thing.
So who rides to the rescue? Donald J. Trump, on Truth Social, at some early hour Tuesday morning, posting like a dad defending his kid’s Little League coach who got caught selling the team bats on eBay. “FIFA would be making a terrible mistake if, for any reason, they even considered replacing President Gianni Infantino,” he wrote. Called him “fantastic.” Said he “presided over the most successful World Cup, by four times, ever presented.” Said if Infantino leaves, “it will never be as successful or profitable again!”
Now here’s the part that made me set my coffee down. Infantino gave Trump the first-ever FIFA Peace Prize at the World Cup draw ceremony last year. Trump attended the World Cup final with Infantino last month. And now Trump is out here writing job recommendations for the man while three confederations are accusing him of deception. You tell me that doesn’t smell like something you’d find in the back of a teenager’s closet.
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (CC BY 2.0) via Wikimedia CommonsAnd here’s the kicker. Even US Soccer, our own federation, joined the voices against Infantino. Our own country’s soccer people looked at this mess and said no thank you. But the president of the United States decided he knows better than, you know, the people who actually run the sport. He’s picking sides in a FIFA election that doesn’t happen until March 2027, against the advice of his own country’s soccer federation, for a guy who handed him a trophy.
The confederations wrote something in their letter that I want to tape to my refrigerator. “Leadership in football is not a possession. It is not about holding, or demanding, power to be held.” They said when someone “places himself above the collective that entrusted him with authority, that duty has been abandoned.” I’ve been saying versions of that at every PTA meeting I’ve ever attended, and I didn’t need a Swiss lawyer and a private equity firm to figure it out.
Contains elements by Bluesky PBC (website interface and icons), Microsoft Corpor (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia CommonsInfantino has been in charge for 10 years. He has a house in Qatar. He got support from Kuwait and Qatar, two countries with, let’s say, a particular interest in World Cup hosting. He looked like he’d sail to a fourth term until this plan blew up in his face. Now UEFA is talking about organizing rival tournaments. The whole sport is splitting apart because one man tried to sell the family silverware and got caught.
And the president of the United States, who got a peace prize from the man he’s defending, thinks the problem is that people want accountability. He thinks you’re too dumb to notice the pattern. A guy gives you a prize. You go to his party. He gets in trouble. You bail him out. That’s not diplomacy. That’s a group chat.
I’ve got four kids and a finite amount of patience for people who treat public trust like a yard sale. The World Cup isn’t Infantino’s to sell, and it isn’t Trump’s to protect. It belongs to the game. And the people running the game just told you exactly who this man is. Maybe listen to them instead of the guy holding the trophy they gave him.