The rose-tinted world of Gianni Infantino’s US World Cup in 15 stunning instagram posts
July 27 – FIFA president Gianni Infantino has hit back at critics of his leadership and the 2026 World Cup, urging them to “meditate, pray or watch a football match” instead of “spreading hate and false rumours” about the governing body.
In a lengthy post published on his personal Instagram account and shared with FIFA’s eight million followers, Infantino defended the tournament against criticism over refereeing, security, political influence and travel restrictions, insisting the competition had shown “humanity at its best”.
The 15-slide statement painted an overwhelmingly positive picture of the first 48-team World Cup, with Infantino claiming there had been “100% safety and security, only joy and happiness” throughout the tournament.
His claims contradict and brush under FIFA’s increasingly large several controversies that overshadowed the competition.
Among them was the treatment of Iran, whose participation became one of the tournament’s biggest political talking points. Infantino praised FIFA for having “worked tirelessly to unite two countries at war”, saying Iran entered the United States “without incident or conflict”.
However, Iran head coach Amir Ghalenoei described his side as the “most oppressed” team at the World Cup after visa delays, travel restrictions and the denial of entry to key members of the delegation disrupted their preparations. The team was also forced to relocate its training base from Tucson, Arizona, to Tijuana, Mexico before the tournament began, and then for some games was refused entry into the US until game day and then not allowed to spend a day of recovery post-game before returning to their Tijuana training base.
Supporters from Haiti, Senegal and Ivory Coast were also hit by travel restrictions imposed by the Trump administration, while Somali referee Omar Artan was wrongfully refused entry to the United States despite holding a diplomatic passport and a valid US visa.
Infantino dismissed those concerns.
“You mentioned the few people denied visas and overlooked the millions who were approved, from all parts of the world,” he wrote. “Because football unites the world, and it was impressively demonstrated this summer.”
The FIFA president also insisted the tournament passed without incident, claiming there had been “zero violence”.
Yet FIFA continues to investigate the post-match confrontation following Spain’s World Cup final victory over Argentina, which involved several Argentine players and members of the coaching staff unleashing their frustrations on Spain’s squad.
Separate investigations are still ongoing into allegations of racist abuse directed at streamer IShowSpeed, while arrests were made around a number of fixtures, most notably England’s semi-final against Argentina in Atlanta.
Questions over officiating and political interference also resurfaced after USA forward Folarin Balogun was cleared to play in the round of 16 despite against Belgium despite having received a red card in the previous round. FIFA suspended the automatic one-match ban following intervention from US President Donald Trump – for no reason other than to appease the self-proclaimed ‘football expert’ (who said he didn’t know what a red card meant).
The decision prompted a strong response from UEFA, which described the move as “unprecedented, incomprehensible, and unjustifiable”, while Norway’s football federation is considering lodging a formal complaint with FIFA’s ethics committee.
Infantino rejected suggestions of political interference, instead arguing similar decisions are commonplace elsewhere.
“It’s curious that the same countries employing these practices are the ones criticising,” he wrote, but failed to give a single example in football or any other sport of political interference from a country’s leader actively getting a decision overturned in a previous match that benefitted his team’s next game.
Infantino concluded by urging his detractors to focus less on criticism and more on football itself.
“To those spending their time and energy hating us, please take a moment to reflect, meditate, pray or watch a football match and truly observe the faces, the eyes, the emotions,” Infantino wrote somewhat self flatteringly.
“Our world needs love, not hate; tolerance, not division; celebration, not mourning.”
Yes it does. It also needs a football governing body it can trust with its game.
Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at [email protected]
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