Politics On and Off the Pitch: Gianni Infantino and FIFA’s Future in the Political Sphere

Sports and politics have been enmeshed for nearly a century. Most infamously, the 1936 Berlin Olympics enabled Nazi hosts to capitalize on the international nature of the Games to portray a sanitized version of Hitler’s Aryan autocracy. More recently, the world of modern soccer has been plagued by tensions that go well beyond the competing athletes. While FIFA, the sport’s international governing body, has been drawn into politics over the years, no one has been more involved than its current president, Gianni Infantino. 

A lawyer by trade, Swiss national Infantino previously held the role of Deputy General Secretary of the United European Football Association (UEFA), while fellow Swiss Sepp Blatter served as FIFA President. In 2015, however, Blatter resigned following a corruption scandal, opening the door for Infantino. In early 2016, Infantino beat out four competitors for the prestigious title, thus taking on not only the biggest job in FIFA, but also one of the most influential positions in global sports. In the nine years since, Infantino has managed to overshadow the sport of soccer by meeting with—and developing personal ties to—prominent authoritarian leaders. From accusations of sportswashing to indictments on the grounds of bribery from the US Department of Justice, Infantino has consistently forced himself into the spotlight, while simultaneously damaging FIFA’s reputation as a respected governing entity.

Sportswashing, the method of using popular sports to sanitize a state’s reputation, fueled by government funds, has gained significant traction alongside Infantino’s rise to power. Consider his ongoing oversight of Saudi Arabia’s bid for the 2034 World Cup: highly criticized for its oppressive male guardianship systems, frequent jailing of political opposition, and implementation of the death penalty, Saudi Arabia repeatedly breaches international human rights obligations. Simultaneously, the petrostate uses its enormous financial resources to enhance its international image by investing in high-profile sports like soccer. It comes as no surprise, then, that in spite of popular protest, Saudi Arabia went uncontested in the bid for the 2034 World Cup—an outcome overtly orchestrated by Infantino and Saudi Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.

Saudi Arabia is not the only autocracy finding an ally in Infantino. The FIFA president has also publicly defended Russia’s Vladimir Putin, going so far as to refer to the 2018 Russian World Cup as the “best World Cup ever.” Russia was allowed to host the tournament just four years after Putin ordered the annexation of Crimea, resulting in Russia’s suspension from the Group of 8 (now the G7) and international sanctions, yet this did not faze Infantino. For Russia, hosting the largest sports event in the world offered a high-profile opportunity to re-engage in public diplomacy talks with other global superpowers. Though hosting rights had been awarded before Infantino gained power, his continuing enthusiastic support—culminating in his receipt of the Order of Friendship from Putin in 2019—drew widespread opprobrium. 

Infantino’s affinity for repressive authoritarian regimes has encouraged other wealthy world leaders to infiltrate the world of soccer. President Donald Trump, not known to be an avid soccer fan, has recently become one of Infantino’s closest political allies. The two men collaborated during the 2025 Club World Cup in the US, which was funded by over one billion USD from the Saudi Arabian government. Infantino also oversaw Canada, the US, and Mexico’s winning bid to host the 2026 World Cup, and his attendance at Trump’s inauguration in January of this year raised eyebrows in the press and among fellow world leaders. 

Gianni Infantino (right) has consistently expressed his support for President Trump (left) through public gift giving, such as this FIFA soccer ball gifted at the Davos Congress Centre in January 2020. “01.21.2020” by Trump White House Archived is licensed under PDM 1.0. 

Infantino’s enthusiastic support for Trump comes at a time of great civil unrest in the US and among 2026 World Cup co-hosts. ICE raids primarily targeting Mexican immigrants through unlawful arrests have incited civil unrest across the US, while ongoing tariffs and threats of annexation have limited Canadian tourism in the US. like never before. Despite these tensions, Infantino continuously praises Trump, exhibiting how a game of 22 players on a pitch has become increasingly overshadowed by a select few strongmen in suits. 

Infantino’s preoccupation with his new political friend group is increasingly obvious to and frustrating for many fellow FIFA delegates. On May 15, 2025, after a three-hour delay due to Infantino’s absence, eight UEFA members of the FIFA Council and several European delegates staged a walk-out at the annual FIFA Congress in Asunción, Paraguay. The reason for Infantino’s absence? He had prioritized meetings with President Trump, Saudi Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, and Emir Tamim Bin Tamad Al Thani of Qatar over the congress meeting. 

The widening divide between Infantino and FIFA Council members is thus destabilizing one of the oldest governing bodies in the sport. His constant presence in news headlines and his pursuance of “private political interests”—as described by Lise Klaveness, Norway Football Federation President, in a UEFA statement—has shifted the centre of gravity of FIFA away from the pitch and into the realm of photo-ops and politics. By allowing a replicable model for sportswashing to be co-opted by autocrats abroad, Infantino is pushing his way into global politics by capitalizing on shared interests with world leaders like Trump and Bin Salman. He is using the same strategy as the leaders that he surrounds himself with— centralizing control and exerting influence at all costs. Infantino’s weaponization of FIFA as an instrument to amass power will have repercussions not just for fans of soccer, but for the game’s role in global politics—no longer is it just a sport, but a pawn in an autocratic game.

Edited by Marina Gallo

Featured Image: “Gianni Infantino (2020)” by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime is licensed under CC by 2.0.