What Gianni Infantino Learned From Donald Trump

The FIFA president’s plan to sell off a stake of the World Cup suggests he’s emulating his hero.

Fresh off what was, in spite of everything and largely with no thanks to himself, the tremendous success of the 2026 World Cup, FIFA president Gianni Infantino was always going to find a way to turn that success into a monument to his own vanity and greed. What is surprising is just how quickly he managed to squander whatever undeserved goodwill he had generated during the tournament. On Tuesday, just eight days after Spain won the World Cup for the second time, Infantino and FIFA announced a plan to create a $20 billion subsidiary to ‌run the World Cup and its other events, offering stakes to private investors worth up to 20 percent. The World Cup was for sale, in other words—and, to make matters even more ridiculous, that sale was going to be overseen by Josh Kushner, the brother of President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Where we go from here is anyone’s guess. UEFA, which oversees European soccer, has already unanimously voted to boycott all subsequent FIFA tournaments if the measure passes. Those tournaments very much include the 2030 World Cup, which is set to partially be hosted in Portugal and Spain—and would mean 11 of the top 20–ranked nations in the world would miss out on FIFA’s premier competition. CONCACAF, which oversees soccer in North and Central America and the Caribbean, voted to “reject” the sell-off hours later. If the backlash grows, Infantino’s presidency—or even FIFA—could be destroyed.

How we got here is much clearer, however. The 2026 World Cup, hosted primarily in the United States, was a lesson in avarice for the already power- and money-hungry Infantino. Hobnobbing at every opportunity with the president and his cronies, Infantino came away with........

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