FIFA President Gianni Infantino is “facing a future as a ‘lame-duck Fifa president’” after the controversy over USMNT F Folarin Balogun’s ban being lifted following President Trump’s intervention, according to Martyn Ziegler of the London TIMES. Several countries that had backed Infantino’s re-election are “now looking to withdraw that support.” They believe that the decision to defer Balogun’s ban until after the World Cup “crossed a line” in that FIFA was “potentially manipulating the outcome of a match.” Although Infantino is “expected to survive the fallout and be unopposed for re-election next year,” the scandal has “caused such damage to his standing that he will almost certainly be blocked from achieving his main aims in his final term of office: expanding the Club World Cup and/or making it a biennial tournament.” He can also “forget any thoughts of trying to change Fifa’s statutes so that he can stand again after his final term expires in 2031” (London TIMES, 7/10).
NOT SEEKING IMPUT: Ziegler in a separate piece wrote the controversial decision to waive a ban for Balogun was “taken solely by the chairman of Fifa’s disciplinary committee without any of the 17 other members asked to be involved in the case.” FIFA Disciplinary Chair Mohammad al-Kamali of the United Arab Emirates “made the decision on his own” -- despite the significance of the ruling. The verdict “went against all previous World Cup disciplinary cases.” Senior figures in football have “questioned why Fifa has declined to publish the written reasons for the Balogun decision” (London TIMES, 7/12).
