The clearest sign that Trump’s endorsement is hurting rather than helping Infantino is a video from a FIFA reception at Trump Tower on 17 July, when the US president openly described calling the FIFA chief to complain about a referee’s decision at his country’s home World Cup.

Trump said he had been “forced to call Gianni and just make a recommendation” after United States striker Folarin Balogun was sent off in the round-of-32 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina. FIFA then suspended Balogun’s one-match ban under Article 27 of its disciplinary code, freeing him to face Belgium in the round of 16.

The reaction from Europe’s governing body was scathing. UEFA said the decision “crossed a red line” and expressed “disbelief at such an unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision.”

Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter offered a blunter verdict.

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“Red cards are not overturned by political phone calls. They are overturned by rules, evidence and independent bodies,” he wrote on X.

Against that backdrop, Trump’s defence of Infantino on Truth Social on 11 August landed as confirmation of the very charge his critics had been making.

“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.”

Wales, Serbia and Sweden withdraw backing

On 3 August, more than a week before Trump’s post, the Football Association of Wales became the first national body to withdraw its backing for Infantino’s re-election in March 2027, citing “failures in good governance, processes, leadership, values, stakeholder management, communications and sound judgment.”

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Serbia and Sweden followed on the same day, and English media reported that the Football Association was preparing to do the same.

The trigger was Infantino’s plan to sell a roughly 20 per cent stake in a new FIFA entity overseeing its competitions, including the World Cup. The deal was to be anchored by Thrive Capital, founded by Joshua Kushner, and was projected to raise up to $4.2bn.

The plan collapsed on 1 August after opposition from UEFA, Concacaf and the AFC. On 10 August, the three confederations followed up with a joint open letter denouncing the proposal as a “fundamental breach of trust” and accusing FIFA of pushing it through on a compressed timeline that limited scrutiny by member associations.

Maduro’s Article 15 charge

The governance critique is not new. Miguel Maduro, the former chair of FIFA’s own governance committee, has argued that Infantino’s public endorsements of Trump breach Article 15 of FIFA’s Code of Ethics, which requires officials to remain politically neutral in their dealings with governments.

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The Balogun call and the Truth Social defence make Maduro’s argument concretely for critics who previously had to make it in the abstract.

Infantino chased a call that never came

The full picture of the relationship became messier this month. Al Jazeera reported that Infantino had “repeatedly tried and failed to reach Trump by phone” after the plan collapsed on 1 August, and had also sought a call with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, which the State Department said was not planned.

Trump’s post landed a week later. The message his critics took from it was not that Infantino has a powerful protector, but that Infantino is being defended in the same tone Trump reserves for personal loyalists, by a head of state who has already boasted of leaning on FIFA once.

Whether the FIFA Congress votes accordingly in March 2027 is the open question. UEFA, Concacaf and the AFC have driven the revolt at confederation level, but confederations do not control their members’ votes: each of FIFA’s 211 member associations casts its own ballot. The direction of travel since 11 August has been away from Infantino, not towards him.

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