GENEVA (AP) — FIFA’s president Gianni Infantino is being referred to Olympic ethics investigators for a possible breach of political neutrality, a human rights group said Wednesday, after U.S. President Donald Trump helped block a World Cup player’s ban.
Trump took credit Monday for FIFA’s decision — unprecedented in modern World Cup history — to let United States forward Folarin Balogun play Monday against Belgium despite getting a red card in the team’s previous game. A Belgium team clearly fired up by the furor won 4-1 in Seattle.
The IOC cites neutrality among “fundamental principles of Olympism” for sports bodies like FIFA, and has jurisdiction over Infantino since he joined its exclusive group of 100-plus invited members in 2020.
“FairSquare will file a complaint to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) regarding FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s repeated breach of political neutrality rules,” the London-based sports and human rights NGO said in a statement Wednesday.
The pledge to file a formal complaint to the IOC Ethics Commission came one day after the Olympic body’s president Kirsty Coventry told reporters none had yet been received.
“Obviously if they do they would look into it,” Coventry said Tuesday in an online news conference when asked about the Balogun controversy fueled by the Trump administration lobbying FIFA and Infantino.
“Yes, we have been obviously watching everything play out,” the IOC president had said earlier when asked about interference in field-of-play issues by the World Cup co-host nation, which also will stage the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
FIFA was asked for comment about the complaint to the IOC about its president.
Infantino-Trump ties
Recommended for you
Infantino has built close ties to Trump since 2018 when the U.S., Canada and Mexico won a vote to host soccer’s World Cup this year.
The FIFA leader has been a regular White House visitor since attending the second Trump inauguration in January 2025 and said in November “we should all support” the president's work as it was “pretty good.”
Infantino famously created the FIFA Peace Prize given to Trump at the World Cup tournament draw in Washington D.C. last December. Senior soccer officials said privately creating the peace award was an executive decision by Infantino.
Ethics case at FIFA
FairSquare also formally filed a complaint to FIFA’s ethics committee in December about Infantino and political neutrality. That is being supported by the Norway soccer federation and about 50 members of the European Parliament.
FIFA has provided no update in the seven months since on that case.
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.