Trump warns FIFA would make 'terrible mistake' by replacing Infantino

US President Donald Trump has defended FIFA president Gianni Infantino, warning that replacing him would be a "terrible mistake". According to Trump, Infantino is "fantastic" and presided over the most successful World Cup, which was four times more successful than previous ones.

Infantino faced criticism from several football confederations, including Uefa, Concacaf, and the Asian Football Confederation, who accused him of "breaking trust through deception" with his aborted FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposal. The proposal would have created a new company to manage commercial and ticketing rights of all FIFA competitions, including World Cups, with 21% sold off to a private investment company.

The 2026 World Cup was co-hosted by the US, Canada, and Mexico, with Spain crowned champions after beating Argentina in the final, according to BBC Sport, Yahoo Sports and France 24. Three FIFA vice-presidents have also called for an independent investigation into the doomed World Cup sale, which was scrapped after widespread opposition, The Age reported.

Brief written by urgent.news from France 24, Yahoo Sports, BBC Sport Football, BBC Sport, The Age — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.