It’s honestly adorable to see how desperately Gianni Infantino wants to be Donald Trump. You could hear the US president’s cadence, even see his hand gestures, as Infantino went on an extraordinary, self-congratulating rant putting his World Cup haters on blast. Trump has clearly taught his Fifa counterpart his tried-and-tested political mantra: shout something repeatedly and loud enough and eventually it will definitely become true, probably.
But he isn’t Trump. He isn’t even Switzerland’s leading Trump tribute act.
Infantino claimed his “most outstanding World Cup” went off without a hitch. “We experienced no violence, no incidents, 100 per cent safety and security, only joy and happiness!” Think you remember the Folarin Balogun debacle? The disgraceful treatment of Iran? The refusal to allow Africa’s best referee to enter the country? The deaths of four people in a crush during the celebrations of Mexico’s win over Ecuador? No, you are just “consumed by hate” – cheer up, misery guts!
He masks his tirade with meaningless buzzwords like joy, unity and love, which are repeated dozens of times without any real substance. But there is no other way of putting this: it’s an attack on those who have tried to hold him to account. An attempt to distort reality and rewrite the narrative that is piling up on him, that he is single-handedly ruining the biggest sport in the world.
“To all of you who missed watching kids, babies, grandparents, and parents come together for the beautiful game, I say sorry that the matches are now over and sorry that you missed all that joy and togetherness. Sorry that you were so consumed by hate and criticism that you missed it all,” wrote Infantino, gritting his teeth into a fine dust.
“To those behind their pens and papers, behind their screens spreading hate and false rumours, I want to say that while you are sitting behind, we at Fifa are on the front lines organising, working hard, and delivering the best show in the world.”
The contradictions that followed felt endless. With each swipe came a wave of anger over a pathetic man who is passing off abject lies as absolute truths.
According to Infantino, “Iran entered the United States without incident or conflict” after Fifa “worked tirelessly to unite two countries at war”. How short do you think our memories are, Gianni?!
From “integral” members of staff seeing their visas denied, to the last-minute training camp move to Mexico due to US entry restrictions, to the Trump administration forcing the team to leave the country “immediately” after their matches finished – Iran’s World Cup experience, to quote captain Mehdi Taremi, was a “disaster”.
The Fifa president also grossly undersold the overwhelming visa issues. He claimed that a “few people [being] denied visas” was insignificant compared to the “millions who were approved, from all parts of the world”, patting himself on the back by saying: “Countries facing serious health issues or other challenges were granted visas.”
It was not just a few. “Football is bigger than hate and discrimination,” he said. Clearly not.
The case of Somali referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan, Africa’s referee of the year in 2025, was the most egregious, sent home at the border due to alleged links to “suspected members of terror organisations”. Uefa have since appointed him the referee of the Super Cup after having “the biggest dream of my life” destroyed, a middle finger directly to Infantino.
But for all those that didn’t make it stateside, a couple of notable names managed to find their way in. Ghana midfielder Thomas Partey awaits trial after being charged with seven counts of rape and one count of sexual assault, all of which he pleaded not guilty to. He was let into the United States. Ivory Coast’s Elye Wahi was arrested days before the World Cup over match-fixing offences and is the subject of an “active investigation” by French police. He was let into the United States.
And then there’s the Balogun debacle. Enough has been said on the disgrace that this plunged the World Cup into. Again, Infantino plays this down in his rant.
“Indeed, ‘arguable’ referees’ decisions or ‘strange’ disciplinary rulings such as for instance potentially mistaken red or yellow cards or subsequent decision not to ban players in certain situations are routine and widely accepted in some of the biggest leagues worldwide,” he said. “It’s curious that the same countries employing these practices are the ones criticising.”
A repeat of the swipe his organisation took at Uefa’s denunciation, Infantino thinks he’s produced a “gotcha!” moment for all the haters. But it doesn’t take an expert to dissect this hollow argument for what it is.
Fifa were facing criticism for lacking an official avenue of appeal in their World Cup regulations after Balogun’s questionable red card. These avenues are what Infantino is referencing when he speaks about other leagues – his tournament didn’t have this option.
Trump found a way to circumvent this hurdle, by having his phone number. What followed Trump’s requested review was a little-known clause being enacted, which saw Balogun’s ban suspended. This is despite strong arguments that the relevant clause – Article 12.7 – should not have applied for on-pitch “disciplinary measures”, which are meant to be final and not reviewed by Fifa’s judicial bodies.
Other teams responded by trying to do the same, but without any official route of appeal, Fifa quickly lost control and rebuffed any approach. It stunk of preferential treatment and called the sporting integrity of the competition into serious question.
So no, it was not the best show in the world. For all the talk from both him and Trump of this World Cup being an unparalleled success, he has actually failed his presidential chum in achieving what really mattered: laundering his administration’s reputation.
This was a sportswashing event after all. The “Maga World Cup” was meant to showcase the star-spangly brilliance of these great United States to the world, while simultaneously bringing about an upturn of approval ratings within his strict borders amid a bubbling disdain towards the government, catalysed by ICE scandals, the Epstein files, and more. Instead, it’s left people never wanting international sport to return to American shores again.
Qatar proved that pre-World Cup sins – in the form of abhorrent human rights abuses – can, unfortunately, be swept under the rug for the majority of casual viewers with a good storyline and a decent tournament that goes untouched by the state. Even after all the greed, cost, war and exclusion, the same could have transpired for the US if a good finals played out.
By allowing Trump to cross the line of tampering with the actual competition, Infantino has cost him dearly. Trump has left his own nation embarrassed, along with the player whose citizenship he rejects the legitimacy of. His actions have also infuriated the rest of the footballing world.
Only within each president’s circle of cronies has this World Cup been considered a success. A 64-team World Cup is now being mooted and the future of this already-bloated tournament is difficult to stomach.
But one thing is for sure: for all the prayers and meditation that Infantino recommends to his critics, this World Cup will not go down in the books as one of the greats. It’ll be resigned to the dustbin of duds, which is exactly what Trump would have wanted to avoid.
