The hardest blow for the Trump-Infantino marriage

WashingtonA few minutes after the United States was eliminated in Seattle, the Belgian players played the Village People's Y.M.C.A. in the locker room and began to imitate Donald Trump's dance. The footballers mocked the American president after he had boasted about personally calling his good friend Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA, to lift the suspension on striker Folarin Balogun. The striker played, it was no use, and the United States was eliminated amid criticism and ridicule from most football fans worldwide.

Trump's call created a big problem for Gianni Infantino, who in recent years has done everything to please the president's ego. This time he couldn't. The four goals from the Belgians turned what had been an exhibition of strength and influence into a humiliating caricature of the American president's power. The FIFA president is not the only figure within the Trumpian court who has played the game of favors and gifts with the tycoon, but he is the first who, without intending to, has collaborated in some way in a public humiliation of Trump, who in the days leading up to the World Cup was saying that his team would win it: they haven't even reached the quarterfinals. In some way, the two friends have hurt each other, as Trump has caused a problem for Infantino, who denies that their conversations have anything to do with the strange decision to allow Balogun to play. According to FIFA statutes, political interference is prohibited and if it were proven to have occurred, FIFA would have to sanction American football.

Until now, the symbiotic relationship between the two men had had the privilege of being more background noise than scrutiny. The trophies with which Infantino has been showering the Republican over the last year and a half were reduced to eccentricities and little more, such as the FIFA Peace Prize. Faced with Trump's frustrated yearnings for the Nobel, the FIFA president invented a substitute to get a little closer to the Republican. During the past year, it is also known that Infantino has been renting an office on the 17th floor of Trump Tower in New York and that it has been completely empty. The Swiss leader, an unknown figure who worked at FIFA and ended up becoming president when a judicial investigation started precisely in the United States led to the downfall of the then-president, Joseph Blatter, has always prioritized getting along with the White House. In part also to ensure that the FBI does not have FIFA in its sights, as did happen in 2015 when the Americans, enraged at seeing how Qatar snatched away the right to organize the 2022 World Cup, investigated the body that manages world football. Now that Trump and Infantino are getting along, the White House only speaks well of FIFA.

The pardon of striker Folarin Balogun so he could play in Monday's match, however, has once again put the spotlight on the relationship and how it affects FIFA's image. Although the organization has already been in the middle of other political controversies – such as its stance on Palestine – it had never directly affected the credibility of refereeing and the legitimacy of matches. When Trump and Infantino acknowledged that they often spoke by phone, they did so with naturalness; it was just another staging of their good rapport. Infantino has visited the White House dozens of times, has given gifts to Trump, and has worn the red MAGA hats. In 2019, Infantino was responsible for introducing Trump at the Davos economic forum and allowed himself to joke that it had been suggested that they were probably the two most important people present.

Having praised the North American president while he was in the midst of the investigation that would lead to his first impeachment earned him a courtesy visit with the US Attorney General, who was then overseeing the indictment against FIFA for organized crime, fraud, and money laundering. The case, which had been opened in 2015 under the administration of Democrat Barack Obama, was shelved in May of this year, one month before the World Cup began. The Department of Justice, now interim-led by Trump's former lawyer, Todd Blanche, dismissed the criminal charges that still remained. The decision also coincided with the out-of-court settlement signed by Blanche, in which the US tax agency (the IRS) committed not to examine or prosecute "any" tax claim against Trump, his children, and the Trump Organization.

With these precedents, Trump had no qualms on Monday about speaking openly about his interference in Balogun's amnesty. However, the power asymmetry in certain circles does not always have to translate into a total victory. Belgium has reminded Trump that his power has limitations and has placed Infantino in a complicated situation: to restore FIFA's credibility and keep his friend happy. Trump ended up with his nose in his hand after the defeat of Mauricio Pochettino's team, and Infantino has seen everyone criticize FIFA for the decision to let Balogun play. Entities such as UEFA, federations, or governments have criticized Infantino for bending so much to Trump, who has created a dangerous precedent in football.