The 2026 FIFA World Cup, already a monument to corporate greed and political spinelessness, has somehow managed to outdo itself. Donald Trump personally lobbied FIFA's president to overturn a red card, a respected Somali referee got blocked at the US border on terrorism allegations with zero evidence, and the governing body of global football responded to all of it by telling critics to "chill and relax." Everything is fine. Totally fine.
Trump Called FIFA. FIFA Listened. Everyone Pretended That's Normal.
Let's start with the one that should have caused an international incident. USA striker Folarin Balogun received a red card during the tournament, triggering an automatic ban. Standard stuff. Happens all the time. Except the sitting president of the United States then personally called FIFA President Gianni Infantino and urged him to review the case. And FIFA, backbone nowhere to be found, suspended the ban.
As Al Jazeera reports, Trump told reporters at the Oval Office: "I think they made a really brilliant decision. I asked for a review. If they would not allow a top player to play I think it would have had a big stain." He also, without a shred of evidence, questioned the integrity of Brazilian referee Raphael Claus, who had issued the card, calling him "a little bit suspect if you check his past." He did not elaborate, because of course he didn't.
The Brazilian Football Association rejected any suggestion of impropriety regarding Claus. FIFA, however, again failed to fully back their own official. UEFA called it crossing "a red line." The Royal Belgian Football Association condemned it. Senior coaches, officials, and politicians across the sport lined up to say what FIFA could not bring itself to say: that you cannot let a head of state pressure your disciplinary process and then claim the outcome was independent.
FIFA's Infantino insisted the judicial bodies had operated "independently and autonomously." Sure. The president of the country hosting the tournament called personally about a specific case. Then the ban was lifted. Totally autonomous. Completely normal. Move along.
The Somali Referee Who Got Smeared With No Evidence Whatsoever
While FIFA was busy caving to Trump on the Balogun case, it was also failing an entirely different victim of this administration's immigration agenda. Omar Abdulkadir Artan, a Somali referee named the Confederation of African Football's men's official of the year in 2025, was denied entry to the United States despite holding a valid visa. According to Al Jazeera, a Trump administration official claimed, without providing any evidence, that Artan had links to "suspected members of terror organisations."
Let that sit for a moment. A decorated, internationally respected football referee, credentialed and invited to officiate at the World Cup, was barred from entry and smeared with a terrorism allegation backed by nothing. The US travel ban, which Al Jazeera describes as widely regarded as racist and discriminatory, has targeted citizens of 12 countries including Somalia, and affected four teams that qualified for the tournament: Haiti, Iran, Senegal, and Ivory Coast.
And FIFA's response? Infantino told critics to "chill and relax." That is a direct quote. The man running global football told people upset about an innocent referee being branded a terrorism suspect to chill out. Artan, to his credit, returned home to a hero's welcome and will be paid in full and will referee the UEFA Super Cup next season. He handled it with more dignity than the organization that was supposed to protect him.
VAR Is Still a Disaster and Everyone Knows It
The political catastrophes have somewhat overshadowed the on-pitch controversies, but the VAR situation has been genuinely ugly. The loudest flashpoint came during Egypt's round of 16 defeat to Argentina, which Al Jazeera describes as dramatic by any measure. Egypt led defending champions Argentina 2-0 with 11 minutes left. Then Argentina scored three times. Egypt went home.
The bitterness centered on a goal by Mostafa Zico in the 62nd minute that was disallowed after VAR review identified a foul in the build-up. Former England goalkeeper Rob Green, commentating for Fox, said on air: "Surely, this is not within VAR's to review this. It's a full length of the pitch away." Mohamed Salah and coach Hossam Hassan both publicly expressed their frustration after the match. VAR then became the story again in Argentina's quarterfinal win over Switzerland, when a lengthy review resulted in a second yellow card for Swiss forward Breel Embolo for simulation, a call Swiss coach Murat Yakin called a "harmless situation" that changed the entire match.
VAR was supposed to fix football's officiating problems. Instead it has created a parallel system where every controversial call gets examined frame by frame by people in a studio, takes five minutes, and still manages to leave half the stadium furious. The technology exists. The implementation remains a mess.
$7,380 for a Ticket. Gianni Infantino Thinks That's Reasonable.
If the political and officiating scandals weren't enough, FIFA also spent the tournament defending ticket prices that read like a typo. Al Jazeera reports that FIFA had nearly 1,200 category two tickets for the World Cup final at MetLife Stadium priced at $7,380 each. Category two. Not the best seats in the house. Nearly $7,400.
Back in April, FIFA reportedly had four tickets on its official resale market priced at $2 million each. Infantino joked about that figure before defending it, arguing that FIFA was simply obligated to take advantage of US laws that allow resale prices to run well above face value. A fan group filed a lawsuit over what it described as excessive ticket prices. FIFA also faces a subpoena related to ticketing issues, according to Al Jazeera.
The World Cup final is a once-in-a-generation event for most fans. The idea that FIFA, the governing body of the world's most popular sport, which derives its entire value from those fans, would price them out of attending and then shrug about it tells you everything about who FIFA actually serves. Hint: it is not the people who grew up loving football.
The Dingo Take
Here is what is genuinely maddening about all of this. FIFA did not have to cave on the Balogun case. Infantino could have told Trump that the process was independent and that was the end of it. He did not. He could have publicly and forcefully defended Omar Abdulkadir Artan the moment a baseless terrorism smear appeared. He told people to chill. He could have used FIFA's staggering wealth and leverage to price the World Cup final in a way that actual football fans could access. He sold tickets for $7,380 and joked about $2 million resale prices.
Every single one of these failures follows the same pattern: FIFA had the power to do the right thing and chose not to, because doing the right thing might have irritated someone powerful or cost someone money. That is not an organization with values. That is a protection racket with better branding.
The 2026 World Cup will produce a champion in a few days and that will be the headline. Some country will lift the trophy and there will be tears and confetti and the highlights will be genuinely beautiful. And Gianni Infantino will stand on the stage smiling, having spent a month demonstrating that the most powerful position in world sport is currently occupied by a man who can be moved by a phone call from a bully and can't be moved by anything else.
