As FIFA president Gianni Infantino is being publicly excoriated by top soccer officials within and outside of his organization, his close friend and ally, U.S. president Donald Trump, is not rushing to his defense.
Before Friday, the Trump administration had not commented on this week’s tumult in FIFA, despite its close ties to both Infantino and prospective investor Joshua Kushner.
At Camp David on Friday, hours after the resignation of Carlos Cordeiro—Infantino’s top envoy to Trump—the president was asked if he had advance notice from Infantino or FIFA about the plan to bring on outside investors to help fund a new $20 billion commercial arm.
“No, I never spoke to him,” Trump said, before moving to the next question.
Infantino has tightly embraced Trump in recent years, much to the distaste of many in soccer—particularly in Europe. Two weeks ago, Trump stood beside Infantino at an event at Trump Tower ahead of the World Cup final, and said the FIFA boss “made yet another of his good decisions” when he let Folarin Balogun play against Belgium.
