FILE PHOTO: FIFA President Gianni Infantino with U.S. President Donald Trump during the World Cup trophy presentation. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez/File Photo
FIFA president Gianni Infantino is turning to the Trump administration to save his job after his plan to sell off part of the World Cup's commercial rights collapsed, the New York Post reported Monday, citing sources.
According to the Post, Infantino scheduled a private call with Secretary of State Marco Rubio for Monday morning and has repeatedly tried and failed to reach President Donald Trump by phone since the proposal fell apart Friday.
“He wanted to get online with the secretary and talk about how soccer can be a form of soft power for America,” an insider told the Post. “But we all know that it is about job protection. It is not about anything else at this point.”
The State Department disputed that account, with a spokesman writing on X that there were no plans for Rubio to speak with Infantino and "no call this morning."
The reported scramble follows the swift collapse of Infantino's plan to sell a roughly 20% stake in a new commercial arm handling World Cup broadcasting, sponsorship and ticketing rights. The lead investor was Thrive Capital, founded by Josh Kushner, brother of Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner. The deal, worth about $4 billion, drew near-universal opposition: UEFA's 55 members voted to boycott all FIFA competitions, and officials in Asia and North America rejected it before Infantino abandoned it Friday.
Trump, who had cultivated a warm relationship with Infantino around the 2026 World Cup, distanced himself as the plan unraveled. Asked at Camp David whether the FIFA boss had consulted him on the sale, the president said he had never spoken to him about it.
The Post reported that Infantino felt "isolated" by the negative coverage and was hunting for allies as an internal push to force him out gained momentum. FIFA's ties to Trump have come under a congressional microscope, with House Judiciary Democrats demanding records of anything of value the organization gave the president.