Trump comes to Infantino's defense: "It would be a terrible mistake"
The US President provides backing to the FIFA President, who is under increasing pressure from UEFA and other associations around the world: "If he leaves, the World Cup will never again be as successful or profitable."
While Gianni Infantino faces increasing pressure from football associations around the world, US President Donald Trump is giving him public backing and warning: "FIFA would be making a terrible mistake if it considered replacing the president," who is at the center of a storm following his plan to sell parts of the World Cup rights to private investors.
In a post published on Tuesday on the social network Truth Social, Trump wrote:
"FIFA would be making a terrible mistake if, for any reason, it even considered replacing President Gianni Infantino."
"He is wonderful," the US President continued, "having just presided over the most successful World Cup ever, by a factor of four. If he leaves, the World Cup will never again be as successful or profitable."
The remarks come in the shadow of a joint letter sent last night by the European (UEFA), Asian (AFC), and North and Central American (CONCACAF) associations, in which they accused FIFA and its head of "deception." At the same time, according to reports, the associations are interested in allowing him to resign with dignity and not run for another term in the elections in March 2027. UEFA even threatened to boycott FIFA competitions, and in a report by the Bloomberg news agency, it was claimed that UEFA had begun to act in order to hold competitions that would compete with the World Cup.
Infantino apologized for the plan to establish Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE), a company that would manage the commercial and operational aspects of FIFA competitions, with the proposal planning to sell about 20 percent of it to private investors, among them, according to reports, the brother of Trump's son-in-law, Joshua Kushner.
In an open letter, the three confederations called for an independent review:
"Leadership in football is not property. It is not about holding or demanding to hold power. It is a duty of service to the football family that has entrusted them with its trust. When trust is broken through deception, when a person places himself above the collective that entrusted him with authority, this duty has been abandoned."
