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View all search resultsFIFA’s Trump card
When FIFA tosses out its own rule book after a phone call from the US president Trump, it proves that the pitch is never truly free from politics.
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United States President Donald Trump joined by FIFA president Gianni Infantino (right) holds the World Cup Trophy as he makes an announcement in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on Aug. 22, 2025. Trump announced the 2026 World Cup draw will be held on Dec. 5 at Washington's Kennedy Center. (AFP/Andrew Caballero-Reynolds)
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IFA under Gianni Infantino has never hesitated to crack down on players making political statements. We saw this clearly during the World Cup 2022 in Qatar, when the global soccer body threatened European captains with sanctions simply for planning to wear OneLove rainbow armbands. The message from the top has always been ironclad: the pitch is for soccer, not social or political protests.
But now the FIFA boss is facing fierce backlash for fielding his own brand of politics. It started when United States President Donald Trump publicly claimed he called Infantino to get American star Folarin Balogun's red card suspension lifted, just before the host team’s round of 16 clash against Belgium on July 7.
Even though Infantino insists FIFA’s disciplinary committee made the call independently, the optics are terrible. It prompted FairSquare, a London-based human rights and sports governance NGO, to file a formal complaint with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) ethics body, accusing Infantino of breaching "political neutrality".
For many decades, a reversal like this was unheard of at a World Cup. FIFA rules don't allow teams to challenge straight red cards, so when fans saw Balogun join the starting lineup at Lumen Field right after the Trump-Infantino phone call, it naturally raised eyebrows.
Balogun picked up the red card and an automatic two-match ban during the round of 32 against Bosnia-Herzegovina. The host team filed an appeal anyway, a mission impossible according to the FIFA rule book. Meanwhile a convenient media narrative spread quickly, claiming the young striker had "suffered enough" by being sent off.
It’s not hard to see the mutual interest at play here. For Trump, the USMNT succeeding on home soil feeds perfectly into his narrative of American dominance, a massive talking point ahead of the midterm elections in November. For Infantino, a premature US exit would mean a disastrous drop in local TV ratings, plunging ticket resale values and total loss of interest from casual American fans.
It’s no secret how close the two leaders are, either. At the group draw last December, Infantino even presented Trump with the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize, a gross irony considering the US leader launched the war on Iran just months later.
