FIFA bows to King Trump under Gianni Infantino

FIFA has always loved regimes and dictatorships. Italy was chosen in 1934 because fascism would ensure discipline. When the Soviet Union refused to play the 1973 playoff match in Pinochet’s Chile (because the pitch was a concentration camp), FIFA disqualified the USSR.

The men's soccer World Cup, which kicks off in three months in the United States, Canada and Mexico, will be the most political and politicized in history – even more so than the tournaments held under Italian fascism in 1934 or the Argentine dictatorship in 1978. 

This is because the new leadership of FIFA, headed by its high prophet, FIFA president Gianni Infantino, has bowed down so disgracefully at the feet of Donald Trump that the “king” had an easy time declaring he didn’t deem Iran's participation in the tournament appropriate – as he happens to be currently bombing the country’s schools and hospitals – despite the fact that the Iranian national team officially qualified on the pitch.

No one was surprised by this blatant political interference in sports. Up until a few years ago, FIFA protocol – however hypocritical – did not stop politics from deciding the fate of soccer, but it at least required it to operate in the shadows. Under the new regime, however, everything has changed.

Ever since becoming FIFA president, Infantino has openly applauded Trump's victory. He accompanied the US president on his trips to the Gulf states, created the “FIFA Peace Prize” out of whole cloth specifically for him and participated alongside........

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