Is it just me, or did the last week in world football feel like it was ripped out of Succession?
Sepp Blatter must be feeling slightly chuffed knowing he is no longer the posterchild for FIFA corruption. Gianni Infantino- the Lex Luthor of FIFA boardrooms- is under the pump right now, fighting to protect his FIFA presidency after a week of fearsome backlash. To be fair, the Italian was flirting with controversy these past few years (more on that later). But plans to essentially sell off a minority stake in FIFA to private investors was a bridge too far for even the most jaded of football fans, setting off a backlash of nuclear proportions. Infantino backed off as soon as he realized his got his hands caught too far in the proverbial cookie jar. But the damage appears to be done. How did we get to this point?
A post-Blatter hero?
Most football enthusiasts will remember Infantino as the Champions League whisperer (the former UEFA Secretary General used to be the guy picking out balls in the Champions League draws). But he rose to the big time in the wake of Sepp Blatter’s corruption crisis, winning the FIFA presidential election in February 2016. And he faced a dauting task: expunge FIFA’s tainted name while getting it out of substantial debt. And he did appear to breathe new life into the damaged brand, spreading the game further than ever before while profit margins steadily increased. He felt like a breath of fresh air, a reformer who didn’t stray too far into the political realm.
Changes afoot
Things began to change during the 2022 FIFA World Cup held in Qatar. Infantino started to enjoy the limelight a bit too much, becoming increasingly disconnected from reality along the way. He gave that cringe-inducing ‘I feel Arab’ speech, where he really seemed to think he was having a Martin Luther King-style moment of political brinkmanship (he essentially compared being persecuting as a ginger to the oppression of migrant workers). Allegations of corruption in the FIFA bidding process were everywhere. That came to a head when FIFA controversially awarded the 2030 World Cup to another famed human right’s violator: Saudi Arabia. To make matters worse, Saudi Arabia were awarded the tournament in the same year that state-owned Aramco has announced a four-year global partnership with FIFA. Not a great look that, is it?
The Trump of it all
But the recent World Cup was where things started to sour. Infantino’s main-character energy met its match in US president Donald Trump, setting in process a period of galling, almost comically sycophantic corruption. Late last year, FIFA awarded Trump a peace prize just because the Nobel committee hadn’t seen fit to do so yet (he started bombing Iran a few months later). FIFA bent over backwards to move the Iranian football team to Mexico yet did nothing to help Somali referee Omar Artan during his visa dispute (they were a powerless multinational corporation after all). But they did step in when big-daddy Trump said he wasn’t happy about Balogun’s suspension, resulting in a scandalous reversal that was only mitigated by USA’s embarrassing exit at the hands of Belgium. Trump’s reverse Midas touch had brought a new level of scrutiny to the once-insulated Infantino.
Icarus gets burnt
But for all that brazen corruption: the 2026 FIFA World Cup was an unmitigated success. The horribly overpriced spectacle raked in billions. There were no major terrorist incidents during the tournament (if you are not counting that crime of a final). I think that Infantino felt like he had been given a mandate to do as he pleased with FIFA (he was the saviour after all). But when people caught wind of his desire to privatize a portion of FIFA; it raised those old ‘Super League’ hackles. While FIFA Is technically a non-profit organization, most people understand that a certain amount of financial skullduggery is to be expected in massive institutions. But Infantino, drunk on his own power, grossly overestimated people’s limits.
United in disgust
Infantino was apparently looking to secure $4.2 billion from private investment (including one group led by Joshua Kushner, brother to Trump’s son-in-law Jared). Football likes to present itself as the sport of the masses. Allowing venture capitalists to exert potential influence over future tournaments betrays the core tenets of the game. UEFA showed some surprising solidarity, announcing a boycott to any future tournaments if Infantino’s plan went through. Concacaf never went quite that far but still rejected his proposal. The Italian- who looks like he would have most certainly been sorted into Slytherin- was quickly becoming the most roundly detested man in world football. German politician Sascha Binder has even called for a nationwide stadium ban against Infantino.
Infantino backs down
Gianni Infantino had no other choice than to back down (albeit reluctantly) from his hugely unpopular initiative. The dangerous combo of rapacious greed and delusional arrogance led him to believe that he could do what he wanted. The embattled Italian still intends to run for FIFA re-election in March next year. I personally think he has done too much damage to survive this awe-inspiring overreach. Orbiting into the Trump solar system was probably the worst thing that could have happened for a man who had already dipped his toes into the murky waters of corruption.
