Finally, even by Gianni Infantino’s audacious standards, he went too far.
Arguably, the FIFA president had crossed the Rubicon long before. The way that human rights abuses in Russia and Qatar in 2018 and 2022 were conveniently ignored. The award of the 2034 tournament to Saudi Arabia not as the result of a bidding process, but more as a coronation. The creation of a FIFA Peace Price and then the decision to award it to US President Donald Trump – a less worthy recipient of such an award it is hard to imagine. The introduction of hydration breaks, disguised as being for player welfare, but really a chance for broadcasters to sell more adverts, or the way the suspension that goes with a red card was lifted following a phone call from Trump. The list goes on.
However, his plans to sell rights in future World Cup tournaments to private investors proved that he had fatally misjudged the mood this time.
The proposal was effectively dead in the water when UEFA came out against it and threatened to boycott future World Cup unless the plans were withdrawn. Without the European teams in it what value is their in a World Cup anyway to outside investors?
And then CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation joined the protests and when senior FIFA officials began to resign as well, indicating they had not been consulted over the plans, Infantino was forced to accept the inevitable, and throw in his cards.
This may not be the end of him and he may still get the fourth and final term in office that he craves.
But his authority has been fundamentally undermined, and it is clear that the balance in world football now lies in Europe.
And Infantino has nobody but himself to blame. This was the ultimate powerplay, and, this time, it just did not work.
