FIFA’s Infantino begs Trump admin to save lots of his job
FIFA President Gianni Infantino needs the Trump administration to help preserve him in workplace and has scheduled non-public talks with Secretary of State Marco Rubio amid rising stress to resign over his bid to dump the World Cup to Josh Kushner’s private equity firm, The Post has discovered.
Two sources acquainted with the matter confirmed Infantino will maintain a call with America’s top diplomat just after 9 a.m. ET.
“He wanted to get online with the secretary and talk about how soccer can be a form of soft power for America,” said one insider briefed on the matter. “But we all know that it is about job protection. It is not about anything else at this point.”
FIFA boss Gianni Infantino cultivated a heat relationship with President Donald Trump ahead of the 2026 World Cup. Now, insiders inform The Post the commander-in-chief gained’t take his calls. USA TODAY Network through Reuters Connect
A second source said the Swiss-Italian sports activities swimsuit felt “isolated” by the avalanche of damaging media coverage.
“He is looking for allies of note to publicly support him,” the source said.
The Post has sought remark from FIFA and the State Department.
This newspaper has also discovered that Infantino, 56, has repeatedly tried and failed to succeed in Trump, 80, by cellphone since his plan to dump the game’s business property to personal traders collapsed on Friday.
The Post broke the news that Infantino’s try to spin off broadcasting, sponsorship, licensing and ticketing rights was useless after near-universal uproar from soccer federations worldwide.
It has also sparked an open revolt against his management at the Swiss nonprofit, with one FIFA government telling The Post that officers wish to push him out of the top job under what has been dubbed internally as Project “Kill The Monster”.
Kevin Lamour, the chief working officer of the Zurich-based group, told the Associated Press on Friday that he felt “deceived” by Infantino’s actions, saying he was unaware of the secret talks.
The aborted plan would have seen the creation of a new subsidiary dubbed FIFA Forward Enterprise created to handle the new business.
Sources said Infantino wil maintain talks with Secretary Rubio later today in a determined bid to save lots of his job as the top boss of global soccer. AP Photo/Evan Vucci
Thrive Capital, a non-public equity firm run by Josh Kushner, the youthful brother of President Trump’s son-in-law Jared, would have taken a 20% stake in the enterprise for just over $4 billion.
The plan, first reported by The Times of London, angered soccer bosses across the world, who claimed that they had only discovered about it from media studies.
UEFA, the governing physique of the sport in Europe, voted 55-0 to boycott the next World Cup — set to be held in Spain, Portugal and Morocco in 2030
It raised the prospect of two host nations skipping their own tournament, while ravenous the event of top stars such as Real Madrid’s French ahead Kylian Mbappe and Spain’s Barcelona wunderkind Lamine Yamal.
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