(TRINIDAD EXPRESS) – Former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner has vowed to spearhead a campaign to remove FIFA president Gianni Infantino, accusing him of bringing the game into disrepute by permitting United States President Donald Trump to interfere in the World Cup 2026 tournament.
Warner told the Express yesterday Infantino had “disgraced” football by his action.
A global controversy erupted after Trump personally called Infantino and requested a review of the red card shown to United States striker Folarin Balogun.
Balogun was sent off for a hard tackle during the United States Round of 32 match against Bosnia and Herzegovina last Wednesday.
The dismissal carried an automatic one-match suspension, ruling him out of the crucial Round of 16 clash against Belgium last night.
Trump intervened by calling Infantino, arguing the decision was incorrect and requesting a review. Shortly afterwards, FIFA lifted the player’s one-match suspension, allowing him to play in the match.
In a telephone interview with the Express yesterday, Warner said several of his former FIFA colleagues had contacted him for his view.
“I told them I will start a campaign against Infantino. He is a disgrace to FIFA and to football. For Trump to intervene in the match with the US player against Belgium (last night) is the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen. And I honestly believe that Infantino should lose his election next year and anything I could do to help that, I will do. He has destroyed the reputation of FIFA. FIFA is a non-political organisation,” said Warner.
Stressing that FIFA was non-political, Warner said it was “wrong” for Infantino to act the way he did.
“It is absurd. It’s ridiculous. And he must pay a price for that at his re-election next year,” he said.
The Express pointed out that some may argue Warner has little standing to campaign against Infantino given his own controversial history with FIFA.
In 2011, he resigned as FIFA vice-president amid a major bribery enquiry. FIFA accepted his resignation, closed all Ethics Committee proceedings against him and maintained his presumption of innocence.
Warner said he had every right to speak out based on his experience and tenure in FIFA.
“In FIFA, I did nothing wrong. I stood up because I fought against the US and I paid a price for that,” he said.
‘Balogun very lucky’
Told that Trump had merely requested Infantino to “review” the suspension, Warner said there was no difference between a review and a reversal.
He said Infantino should have “been a man” and told the US President that the rules of the competition could not be changed.
“During my time in FIFA, I was there for 30 years. The only time something like that was close to happen was with (Christiano) Ronaldo and it was not done by any call from any president. It was done by a committee of the FIFA. So I don’t understand people comparing Ronaldo with a US player,” Warner said.
Warner said Balogun was very “lucky”, adding that under Trump’s presidency he would never have been allowed into the US in the first place.
He argued that if the United States defeated Belgium, it would compromise the sanctity and independence of the sport.
Warner said he also felt sorry for the referees because any mistake that remotely appeared to favour the United States would place them under intense scrutiny. He added that the controversy had cast a shadow over the football fraternity.
Warner also criticised the “greed” he believes is plaguing FIFA, pointing to the high cost of World Cup tickets. He said tickets for a match in Miami next weekend were selling for more than US$5,000.
“FIFA doesn’t need that amount of money. You’d be surprised to know the kind of money in the FIFA treasury. So therefore, for me, this is mass extortion,” he said.
Warner added that the World Cup had traditionally been a tournament for everyone, including the poor, but lamented that there was no longer free-to-air TV coverage.
Asked which team he was supporting to win the tournament, Warner said he was backing both France and Argentina.
He criticised Brazil’s performance in its defeat to Norway, saying the Norwegians played like the Brazilians and vice versa.
Questioned about Trinidad and Tobago’s prospects of qualifying for another World Cup, Warner said he did not believe he would see it happen in his lifetime if current trends continued.
“When you see the level of football being played in the World Cup even by small countries like Cape Verde with (525,000 people) you will understand that we are far, far away from reaching that level,” he said.
He said Trinidad and Tobago needed to undertake serious “soul searching” and introspection to understand where its football programme stands and where it should be.
Said Warner: “In terms of the Caribbean, I believe that we have gone backwards. Because when other countries have gone forward like Jamaica and Ethiopia and Curacao, our football has not gone anywhere and we shall not qualify for World Cup in my lifetime if this continues.”
Warner was not the only former FIFA official to criticise Infantino.
Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter on his X account, stated: “Red cards are not overturned by political phone calls. They are overturned by rules, evidence and independent bodies.”
He questioned FIFA’s integrity, adding: “If a US president intervenes with the FIFA president—and a player is suddenly cleared before a World Cup knockout match—the question is unavoidable: quo vadis (where are you going), FIFA? Football must never become a playground for political power. #FIFA #WorldCup #GianniInfantino #DonaldTrump.”
Blatter’s FIFA presidency ended in 2015 after he received an initial eight-year ban, later reduced to six, over a payment to former footballer Michel Platini.
Both were later acquitted by Swiss courts. Blatter was subsequently handed a further six-year suspension by FIFA’s Ethics Committee in 2021 for separate breaches.
