FIFA boss Gianni Infantino remains under fire for U.S. red-card shenanigans

FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who has been hopscotching around North America for most of the last month to attend as many World Cup matches as humanly possible (we’ve wondered at times whether he has a teleportation device and/or a body double), can’t outrun the biggest controversy of the tournament.

The about-face regarding the suspension resulting from U.S. striker Folarin Balogun’s red card in the Round of 32, apparently instigated by a phone call from President Trump to Infantino, has had consequences well beyond Belgium trolling Trump with his trademark two-fisted dance.

Rohith Nair of Reuters reports that FairSquare, a human-rights group, has said it file a complaint with the International Olympic Committee over Infantino’s “repeated breach ‌of political neutrality rules,” specifically as a result of Infantino’s arguable kowtowing to Trump.

Previously, FairSquare filed a complaint with the FIFA Ethics Committee in December 2025, based on multiple instances in which Infantino “expressed his public support for the actions and policies” of Trump. The group also complained about Infantino awarding Trump the previously nonexistent FIFA Peace Prize.

Separately, at least 35 European lawmakers have asked the national football associations of the various European Union countries to request the FIFA Ethics Committee to investigate whether political pressure on Infantino from the top of the U.S. government was a factor in the lifting of the Balogun suspension, along with “other potential breaches of political neutrality” by Infantino — including the phony-baloney Peace Prize, per the Associated Press.

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