Infantino’s Trump favour should be his last treasonous act against football

Analysis

Paul Macdonald | Brand Owner

The response was pathetic.

A day after Folarin Balogun’s red card, received against Bosnia, was rescinded at the executive request of Donald Trump, the scrambling from the FIFA Media channel began. Gianni Infantino - clearly puppet-mastering this - was attempting damage control.

He’s bad at it, even with reference to the other unprecedented changes he’s made to appease Trump’s World Cup, of which there’s simply too many to list here, but this one is the most indefensible. It doesn’t matter that Belgium won easily - this is completely irrelevant. The act itself is enough.

Let’s make a simple reference point. If Qatar, or Russia, or indeed anyone else were to seek to interfere directly with the outcome of refereeing decisions, we would call FIFA a banana republic for relenting. And yet here Gianni is, attempting to weasel his way out of the most seismic, unpalatable, unparalleled governing body interference in the history of the sport.

FIFA’s puerile media channel message can be read here in full but the upshot is - we don’t know what the fuss is about, guys, and anyway, Uefa does this all the time.

The missing of the mark is probably somewhat deliberate. There’s literally no defence for allowing Trump to influence tournament events (though given how Gianni folded here, who knows what else he’s agreed to in the months leading up to this) and so we need to resort to misdirection to protect the assertion that FIFA’s independent Disciplinary Committee suddenly stumbled upon this conclusion themselves; but only for this red card, not for any of the other 12 at this tournament nor the hundreds in tournaments prior. Just this one. It’s normal, guys, what do you mean?

And perhaps the saddest part about all of this is how much contempt Trump holds for Infantino. We don’t need an anecdote from comedian Shane Gillis, apocryphal or not, to realise this.

We can see it with our own eyes, with Trump’s every mention of him. The ‘I lifted the phone and he does whatever I ask’ matter-of-factness of Trump’s confirmation that he had played an active role here is, like the man himself, not in any way subtle, nor hidden, nor downplayed. It’s right there. As is the total and utter lack of respect he has for Infantino and by extension football itself.

That the sport has fallen prostrate in front of Trump now feels on a par, and arguably worse than the grubby corruption which shrouded Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022. Those events were largely inherited by Infantino but they represent almost a more naive era of brown envelopes and misappropriation of funds compared to this.

That corruption enriched quite a lot of wrong people under the pretence of ‘growing the game’, as is often the case with FIFA’s railroading and created many white elephant stadia along the way, but it could be argued that the legitimacy of the game itself was never placed into question by any of those events. This is totally different, and not only has Infantino sold us down the river, he’s done it for a man who cares nothing for it.

A man handed the World Cup to caress, to take into his care. A man whose rules made it difficult for Iran to even compete and for one of Africa’s prominent referees to participate. A man whose lack of presence in or around the World Cup has enhanced the event no end until now. A man who will forget Infantino ever existed the minute this tournament is done, and he has taken the credit.

And of course, the can is open, there are worms everywhere. England wants Jarell Quansah’s red card against Mexico rescinded. France have requested Michael Olise’s yellow card obtained against Paraguay be looked at. It’s open season because FIFA has allowed itself to be compromised.

But Infantino is a leader so lacking in integrity that he refused to admit he had anything to do with this, pointing once again to the independence FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee. For him to hide behind process when it most certainly hasn’t been followed speaks volumes for the insidiousness of this man, and how he now represents the biggest existential threat to football itself.

Infantino’s admiration for Trump is obvious, particularly in respect of one key element; his autocratic rule. Gianni is working as hard as possible to reform FIFA in precisely this image, where rules can be broken and history can be obliterated all for one man.

Football cannot allow it to happen. Uefa have referenced a ‘red line’ being crossed. Let’s hope that everyone else sees this for exactly what it is; a treasonous act against the sport itself.