The eyes of the political world are on Washington for the whole of 2025 and on Friday the eyes of the football world are also on the 2026 World Cup draw.
Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA, world football’s governing body, will be the ringmaster. But the most powerful man in the world’s biggest sport will also likely live in the shadow of US President Donald Trump, despite the very public friendship between the two men.
“I’m really lucky. I have a very good relationship with President Trump, who I really consider a close friend,” Infantino said of a friendship that also includes a recent photo op with Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portugal star was later given a partially suspended ban for a highly unusual red card in World Cup qualifying, which would normally have seen him miss Portugal’s first two tournament matches.
“Of course, he’s been very, very helpful in everything we do for the World Cup,” Infantino said of Trump. “He has incredible energy and that’s something I really admire. He works. He does what he says. He says what he thinks. He says, in fact, even what many people think, but probably don’t dare to say.”
According to Sylvia Schenk, given that the United States will host the majority of matches at the 2026 tournament, with neighboring Canada and Mexico hosting some matches, a close working relationship between the two individuals is normal.
Friendship born of convenience?
“It’s all about status,” Schenk, a German former Olympic runner who has worked in sports as a volunteer for Transparency International, was a member of FIFA’s independent human rights advisory board and is an arbitrator at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), told DW.
“If the World Cup wasn’t being held in the United States, Trump wouldn’t be worried about Infantino. So that’s the starting point. And the other way around too. Infantino needs a good tournament next year and for that he needs a working relationship with Trump.”
Schenk said finding a balanced and stable dynamic with Trump is beyond most world leaders and that Infantino will have to walk a delicate line. But he also believes that the pair have similar character traits.
Schenck, who spent time with Infantino during his work with FIFA, said, “They are both vain and both want to be flattered and both have very, very, very big egos.” He said that since he has been in power, he has seen less interest in human rights issues in Infantino.
No politics but peace award for FIFA
Under Infantino, FIFA has emphasized political neutrality; The intention is to ensure the absence of political interference in its federations and a certain standard of human rights, as well as banning excessive political gestures from players or coaches.
And although Infantino needs to keep up with Trump, his appearance at the Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks with the US president was the latest in a series of appearances on the political stage that have raised eyebrows.
As Infantino decided to launch the FIFA Peace Prize, which will be awarded a mile from the White House on Friday. Although the recipient has not been confirmed, it is not a big leap to imagine that it will go to Trump, who just weeks before FIFA launched its own version stripped Venezuelan opposition activist María Corina Machado of the much-coveted and long-established Nobel Peace Prize.
Schenk said, “The question is whether Infantino is doing too much and I think the peace prize would be too high.”
Trump has made several policy decisions and statements that will impact the tournament. Last week, the Iranian Football Federation said they would not send anyone to the draw due to the lack of visa guarantees for their representatives. Along with fellow qualifier Haiti, Iran is one of several countries on Trump’s travel ban list. Exceptions have been made for athletes and some, but obviously not all, support staff. Any fans from the countries included in the list will not be able to travel to the US.
Infantino’s tightrope walk
“The last time the FIFA president was present in the national team dressing room was at the 2025 AFC (Asian Football Confederation) final against Uzbekistan, when he announced to Iranian players that the presence of the Iranian convoy will be guaranteed from the beginning of the draw ceremony until the last day of the national team’s participation in the World Cup,” federation spokesman Amir Mehdi Alavi told the Iranian outlet. favoritism,
Such disputes threaten Infantino’s high wire act with Trump, as did the president’s threat in early November, when he again planned to move matches away from Democrat-controlled cities. “If we feel there is going to be any indication of trouble, I will ask (Infantino) to move him to a different city,” Trump said.
Schenck said that such a political situation could force Infantino to stand against Trump, although there are no guarantees in this regard.
“I think in the end it probably has to. But if Trump says one day – in four weeks, in February or whenever – ‘We’ll move the games from Los Angeles to another city’ then it will be very difficult for FIFA to say: ‘We don’t accept the US government’s risk analysis, we think it’s safe and we’ll stay there.’ It’s also risky.”
Whether Trump and Infantino’s friendship is genuine, or a PR match of convenience, will be tested even more critically in the six months before the inauguration in Mexico City on June 11. The International Olympic Committee will surely face similar tests when the Olympics come to LA in 2028.
Edited by: Jonathan Harding