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Trump backs Infantino as UEFA and confederations call for FIFA president to go

US president calls replacement of Gianni Infantino a 'terrible mistake' amid dispute over World Cup commercial rights

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Published
US President Donald Trump has come out in defence of embattled FIFA President Gianni Infantino [Lee Smith/Reuters]

What this story says

  • Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that replacing Gianni Infantino as FIFA president would be a 'terrible mistake', calling him 'fantastic'.
  • UEFA, CONCACAF and AFC signed an open letter accusing Infantino of breaking trust through deception over a failed plan to sell World Cup commercial rights.
  • Infantino withdrew the plan after UEFA threatened to boycott FIFA tournaments, including the World Cup, if it went ahead.
  • The FIFA presidential election is scheduled for March 2027, with candidates to be declared by 18 November 2026.

Who covered it

Left 34%(33)Centre 30%(29)Right 36%(35)

Percentages are shares of the 97 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 61 of the 158 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .

Trust

72/100

Craft

95/100

Hype

22/100

158 sources · methodology

Donald Trump intervened in the dispute over Gianni Infantino’s leadership of FIFA on 11 August 2026, posting on Truth Social that replacing the president would be a 'terrible mistake'. Trump called Infantino 'fantastic' and said he had 'presided over the most successful World Cup, by four times, ever presented'.

Infantino has faced criticism since proposing to sell part of the World Cup’s commercial rights to private investors. UEFA, CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) signed an open letter on 11 August accusing him of breaking trust 'through deception'. The letter stated that leadership in football 'is not a possession' and that Infantino had placed himself 'above the collective'.

Infantino withdrew the plan after UEFA threatened to boycott FIFA tournaments, including the World Cup, if it went ahead. The confederations called the proposal a 'shabby, opaque, backroom deal' and said Infantino’s subsequent claim of 'full support' from FIFA’s management committee was meaningless. The FIFA presidential election is scheduled for March 2027, with candidates to be declared by 18 November 2026.

What the coverage left out

None of the digests from the right-rated outlets mentioned that Infantino had withdrawn his plan to sell World Cup commercial rights after UEFA threatened a boycott. The left-rated digests from Stuff, Punch Newspapers and Helsingin Sanomat also omitted this detail. Al Jazeera’s full report was the only one to name CONCACAF President Victor Montagliani as a potential challenger to Infantino.

“FIFA would be making a terrible mistake if, for any reason, they even considered replacing President Gianni Infantino.”

— Donald Trump, former US president

March 2027

FIFA presidential election

Candidates must be declared by 18 November 2026.

Tags:#FIFACrisis#InfantinoResignation#WorldCupRights#TrumpIntervention#FootballGovernance

Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 4 times, most recently on 11 Aug 2026, 10:45, and will add the sides that appear.

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

33 rated outlets

  • The left-rated digests led on Trump’s intervention and the open letter from UEFA, CONCACAF and AFC. Al Jazeera’s full report quoted the confederations’ letter at length, including the accusation that Infantino had broken trust 'through deception'. It also noted that Trump’s support for Infantino was at odds with US Soccer, which had joined calls for his removal.
  • The digests from Stuff, Punch Newspapers, Helsingin Sanomat and unn.ua carried Trump’s claim that the World Cup would 'never be as successful or profitable again' if Infantino were replaced. Dawn and Zeit Online’s digests included the detail that Infantino had tried and failed to sell off part of the World Cup to private investors. None of the left-rated digests omitted the confederations’ open letter.

Centre

29 rated outlets

  • The centre-rated digests led on the conflict between Infantino and the confederations, with Trump’s intervention as a secondary detail. The Japan Times’ digest mentioned that Infantino’s plan involved JPMorgan Chase & Co. The Express Tribune and 20minutos digests carried Trump’s warning that replacing Infantino would be a 'terrible mistake'.
  • Jornal Expresso’s digest noted that Trump had previously received a 'FIFA Peace Prize' from Infantino. Sportskeeda’s digest described Trump’s claim as 'sensational'. None of the centre-rated digests omitted the confederations’ open letter or the withdrawal of the commercial rights plan.

Right

35 rated outlets

  • The right-rated digests led on Trump’s support for Infantino, with the confederations’ criticism as a secondary detail. Libertad Digital’s digest quoted Trump’s description of Infantino as having organised 'the most successful World Cup in history'. OKDIARIO’s digest framed the story as Trump 'going to the rescue' of Infantino after UEFA, CONCACAF and AFC published their letter.
  • NOS’s digest quoted Trump calling Infantino 'fantastic'. Deccan Chronicle’s digest carried Trump’s claim that Infantino had presided over 'the most successful World Cup, by four times, ever presented'. Bild’s digest described the dispute as a 'power struggle' and called Trump and Infantino 'friends'. None of the right-rated digests omitted the confederations’ open letter, but none quoted its wording.

Read it at the source

158 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.

Left

33
Show 25 more

Centre

29
Show 21 more

Right

35
Show 27 more

Not rated

61
Show 53 more

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover Trump backs Infantino as UEFA and confederations call for FIFA…?
Of the 97 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 34% are rated left, 30% are rated centre, 36% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 158. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
Is Trump backs Infantino as UEFA and confederations call for FIFA… left or right?
Neither side dominates it. Of the 97 rated outlets on this story, 34% are rated left, 30% are rated centre, 36% are rated right, and no side holds the 70% this site would want before calling a field one-sided. A story is not left or right in any case; the outlets that carried it are what carry ratings.
Is the coverage of Trump backs Infantino as UEFA and confederations call for FIFA… biased?
Trump backs Infantino as UEFA and confederations call for FIFA president to go is one event reported by 158 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
Which outlets covered Trump backs Infantino as UEFA and confederations call for FIFA…?
158 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
Why is Gianni Infantino facing calls to resign?
UEFA, CONCACAF and AFC accused Infantino of breaking trust through deception over a plan to sell part of the World Cup’s commercial rights. The plan was withdrawn after UEFA threatened to boycott FIFA tournaments if it went ahead. The confederations signed an open letter demanding his removal ahead of the 2027 election.
What did Donald Trump say about Infantino?
Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that replacing Gianni Infantino as FIFA president would be a 'terrible mistake'. He called Infantino 'fantastic' and said he had presided over the most successful World Cup ever. Trump’s support contrasts with US Soccer, which joined calls for Infantino’s removal.
When is the next FIFA presidential election?
The FIFA presidential election is scheduled for March 2027. Candidates must be declared by 18 November 2026. Infantino is seeking a fourth term, but UEFA, CONCACAF and AFC have called for his removal.

How did this read?

About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.

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