Trump backs Infantino, says ousting him will be terrible mistake
U.S. President Donald Trump has defended FIFA President Gianni Infantino against calls by football confederations and federations for his resignation over the withdrawn FIFA Forward Enterprise project that sought to sell interests of the World Cup and its other competitions.
Mr Trump, in a post on his Truth social handle on Tuesday, said it would be a “terrible mistake” for FIFA to replace Mr Infantino, who oversaw the most successful World Cup ever, which was co-hosted in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, adding that doing so will make subsequent editions less profitable.
Mr Trump, whom Mr Infantino had in December 2025 awarded the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize to, wrote, “FIFA would be making a terrible mistake if, for any reason, they even considered replacing President Gianni Infantino.
“He is fantastic, having just presided over the most successful World Cup, by four times, ever presented. If he is gone, it will never be as successful or profitable again.”
Mr Trump’s comment followed the joint statement on Monday by UEFA, CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) accusing FIFA and Mr Infantino of breaking trust “through deception” over the controversial proposal.
The three continental football bodies accused the FIFA leadership of failing to acknowledge that the proposal was wrong, a fundamental breach of trust and a failure in judgement, while downplaying it as just a procedural misstep and a failure in communication.
The FFE proposal, if approved, would have created a new company to manage the commercial and ticketing rights of FIFA competitions, including the World Cup, with a 21 per cent stake to be sold to a private investment company.
It was gathered that the proposed FFE investor group was to be led by Thrive, an American venture capital firm founded by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Mr Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
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