The Trump Factor: How a Decade-Long Alliance Became Gianni Infantino's Biggest Liability

Gianni Infantino is still FIFA president. He has not been forced out, no rival has formally declared against him, and the November 18 deadline for challengers to emerge hasn't passed. But after the events of late July and early August 2026, a growing chorus of critics  inside and outside football is making the same argument: that Infantino's closeness to Donald Trump, once treated as a curiosity, has become the thread that could unravel his presidency.

A Relationship Built in Public

Infantino's alignment with Trump has never been subtle. He has kept an office in Trump Tower in New York. He relocated the 2026 World Cup final draw to Washington's John F. Kennedy Center itself taken over by Trump's team where leaders of all three co-host nations joined him on stage. In December 2025, Infantino created a brand-new award, the FIFA Peace Prize, and handed its inaugural edition to Trump personally, calling him the kind of leader football wants to celebrate. He has also publicly said Trump "definitely deserves" the Nobel Peace Prize.

Each of these moments drew criticism on its own. Rights group FairSquare filed a formal ethics complaint over the Peace Prize, arguing it violated FIFA's own rules on political neutrality. Human rights advocates called the award "vulgar" and accused Infantino of using it to curry favor while ignoring Trump's record on issues like the war in Gaza and strikes in the Caribbean. But none of it, on its own, threatened his job.

When Access Started Looking Like Influence

The relationship became harder to wave away this year when it appeared to affect the sport's actual governance. During the 2026 World Cup, Trump personally intervened to request that a ban on USMNT striker Folarin Balogun be lifted a request FIFA granted. That decision drew a formal complaint from the Norwegian Football Federation, long a vocal critic of Infantino's conduct, and fed a broader argument that had been building for months: that access to Trump wasn't just symbolic anymore, it was shaping outcomes.

By late July, that argument reached the U.S. Congress. Reports emerged of lawmakers, including Representative Jamie Raskin, formally summoning Infantino over the nature of his relationship with Trump, with allegations described in some coverage as bordering on "outright bribery" and claims that American fans had been financially "defrauded and manipulated" over World Cup finances now under investigation in New Jersey.

The Private Equity Plan Brought It to a Head

Then came the crisis that actually threatened his presidency: a secretive plan, reportedly discussed with individuals close to Trump, to sell a 20% stake in a new $20 billion FIFA commercial subsidiary covering the World Cup and Club World Cup to outside investors. The lead investor was tied to a firm founded by Joshua Kushner, Trump's son-in-law's brother.

The backlash was immediate and unusually broad for FIFA politics:

• UEFA rejected the plan outright and threatened to boycott FIFA competitions entirely.

• CONCACAF turned down a $20 million per-federation sweetener attached to the deal.

• The Asian Football Confederation, historically one of Infantino's most reliable blocs, broke ranks and demanded a governance review.

• Infantino's own senior adviser, Carlos Cordeiro, resigned in protest, and FIFA's chief operating officer accused him of deceiving staff and running "the project of one person."

• Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter no stranger to scandal himself publicly accused Infantino of "damaging football through his ties with Trump," arguing bluntly that "none of us are the owners of football. It is not FIFA's to sell."

Infantino scrapped the plan within days. UEFA's response made clear the damage was already done, declaring that FIFA's leadership had "lost UEFA's confidence" and that "no option should be off the table" language widely read as an implicit challenge to his position.

Why the Trump Ties Matter More Than the Plan Itself

For Infantino's critics, the private equity scheme was really a symptom. The deeper concern, as some analysts have put it, is whether FIFA's leadership is capable of operating independently of political and financial interests connected to the Trump orbit and whether FIFA's own oversight structures, including its ethics committee, still have the independence to check him. Critics point to Infantino's role in reshaping FIFA's ethics and compliance machinery over the past decade, arguing it has grown less capable of investigating the president than the version that eventually pushed out Sepp Blatter.

It's worth noting Infantino has weathered scrutiny before. Past examinations into his conduct have closed without formal sanction, and he has consistently denied wrongdoing. Supporters can reasonably argue that a pattern of surviving controversy is evidence there's nothing disqualifying underneath it. His critics counter that FIFA's oversight has never been independent enough to settle the question either way.

Where Things Stand

Infantino remains FIFA president, and by rule is eligible to seek one more term at the March 2027 election in Rabat, Morocco. No opposing candidate has emerged, and the deadline to declare one is November 18, 2026. What has changed is the political cost of his Trump relationship: a bond that once looked like a savvy asset smoothing the path for a U.S.-hosted World Cup and a nine-figure broadcast and sponsorship windfall is now the central exhibit in the case being made against him by UEFA, CONCACAF, parts of Asian football, his own former boss, and members of his own staff.

Whether that adds up to an actual fall from power is still an open question. But for the first time in his presidency, it's a question being asked out loud, by people who used to be his allies.

This is a fast-moving, ongoing story. The framing above reflects the state of play as of early August 2026.

Infantino has not left office, and any account of his political "fall" is, at this stage, a case critics are making rather than a settled outcome.