Infantino controversy after 2026 World Cup

On 18 July 2026 senior European officials—including EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German FA president Bernd Neuendorf, Hans‑Joachim Watzke and UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin—announced a boycott of the FIFA World Cup final in New Jersey. Ceferin said the protest targeted a series of FIFA decisions, most prominently the reversal of a one‑match suspension for U.S. striker Folarin Balogun after a direct appeal by President Donald Trump. UEFA condemned the reversal as unprecedented and also criticised the 48‑team format, high ticket prices, mandatory halftime entertainment, new hydration‑break rules and a VAR protocol that issued a controversial red card to Switzerland’s Breel Embolo, while noting the exclusion of Somali referee Omar Artan from the final.

Spain won the final 1‑0 after extra time. In the following days former FIFA chief Sepp Blatter declared the tournament had “lost its credibility” and urged reforms, and La Liga president Javier Tebas warned that a further expansion to a 64‑team World Cup would damage ordinary football. Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump publicly backed FIFA president Gianni Infantino as a candidate for United Nations secretary‑general, describing him as “respected by everyone in the world” and capable of uniting the UN’s 193 members. Trump’s endorsement, reported by the New York Post on 20 July, highlighted Infantino’s receipt of FIFA’s inaugural Peace Prize and his intervention to overturn Balogun’s suspension at Trump’s request. No formal nomination has been made, and other candidates such as former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet and IAEA director Rafael Grossi remain in the UN leadership race.