WASHINGTON.- The president of USA, donald trumpleft on Monday to rescue the boss of the FIFA, Gianni Infantinounder fire from three of the six continental confederations, UEFA, Concacaf and AFCafter his failed project to open the organization to private investors.
Infantino, for now the only declared candidate for the FIFA presidential elections next March, in which he will seek a new four-year term at the helm, has been in check since the disclosure of his controversial project, which was finally abandoned.
Trump said on Monday that FIFA would make a “terrible mistake” if it replaced Infantino.
“FIFA would make a terrible mistake if, for any reason, it contemplated even for a moment replacing its president Gianni Infantino,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social network, calling the Italian-Swiss “formidable.”
“He has just chaired the World Cup more successful,” Trump said, adding that if Infantino leaves “the competition would never again experience such success or profitability.”
Infantino and Trump have not hidden their complicity since the Republican’s return to power in 2025.
In December of last year, Infantino gave the US president the FIFA Peace Prizecreated for the occasion.
in check
But determined to have him abandon the FIFA presidency, the confederations of Europe (UEFA), from North, Central America and the Caribbean (Concacaf) and Asia (AFC) tried on Monday to rally the “football family”, deeply divided over the resolution of the crisis, to their cause.
“Leadership in football is not a possession. It is not about retaining – or demanding – power for oneself,” they noted in a joint letter.
“When trust is broken through deception, when an individual places himself above the group that entrusted him with authority, that duty has been abandoned,” added UEFA, Concacaf and the AFC in an “open letter to the football family.”
The two great supporters that Infantino maintains did not sign the letter: the CAF (Africa), which has 54 national federations affiliated with FIFA, and the influential Conmebolwith ten federations, but among them the influential Brazil and Argentina.
The modest OFC of Oceaniawith 13 countries affiliated.
Within Concacaf there is some division, especially between the three co-hosts of the World Cup 2026.
The federation of Mexico He has publicly distanced himself from the Concacaf line and has reaffirmed his support for Infantino, but USA and Canada They supported the joint letter from UEFA, Concacaf and AFC on Monday.
Next to the Caribbean Football Union (UCF) and Central American Football Union (Uncaf), supported in X the request for “a significant change that strengthens the governance, transparency and accountability of FIFA.”
For now the only candidate declared for next March’s elections, Infantino must obtain the majority of the 211 votes of the members of the institution to be re-elected for four years in a position he has held since 2016.
