US President Donald Trump praises FIFA President Gianni Infantino as "an excellent guy" on Saudi trip, igniting UEFA outrage
US President Donald Trump with FIFA President Gianni Infantino (via Getty Images)
Donald Trump
's high-speed Middle East refueling stop yielded a surprise football side plot when the United States president was heard praising
FIFA
president
Gianni Infantino
as 'an excellent guy' as he introduced him to
Saudi Arabia
's
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
. The three-word statement played out within Riyadh's Royal Court and has led to fresh criticism from
UEFA
officials, who claim Gianni Infantino prioritizes political photo opportunities above governing football.
UEFA criticizes Gianni Infantino for late arrival after US President Donald Trump meeting in Riyadh
From Elon Musk to FIFA chief Gianni Infantino attend US President Trump's state dinner in Qatar
Gianni Infantino, 55, accompanied Donald Trump on the president's Gulf tour that also included tech entrepreneur Elon Musk and Middle East leaders from Saudi Arabia and Qatar. As per lip reader Jeremy Freeman's assessment, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman welcomed the FIFA chief to joking remarks—'Come on, I don't know you'—before laughing and adding that 'it's great to see you'—before Trump interrupted: 'Hi, Gianni, an excellent guy...looking so good...so is he...,' rounding out a warm scene unspooling under the twinkling chandeliers and the flash of cameras.
However, this camaraderie soured relations with UEFA, as delegates were waiting for FIFA's annual Congress. Gianni Infantino was way past the publicized start time—hearing delayed, European officials complained, by his stopover in Riyadh. To protest, UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin and English FA chair Debbie Hewitt spearheaded a walkout during the break of the dinner session, later criticizing Gianni Infantino for 'putting football's interests second'.
'The
FIFA Congress
is one of the most important meetings in world football, where all the 211 nations in the world's game gather to discuss issues that affect the sport right across the world,' said European football's governing body. "To have the timetable changed at the last minute for what appears to be simply to accommodate private political interests does the game no service and appears to put its interests second. We are all in post to serve football, from the streets to the podium, and UEFA members of the FIFA council felt the need on this occasion to make a point that the game comes first and to leave as originally scheduled.'
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Whether Donald Trump's radiant 'excellent guy' judgement boosts the standing of Gianni Infantino or continues to enrage UEFA, the Riyadh incident shows football's intersection with global politics more acutely than ever.
Also read:
Gianni Infantino hit with UEFA backlash for FIFA Congress delay following Donald Trump meeting
While European power brokers call for attention to governance reforms and federations look ahead to
World Cup
host-site clout, Infantino's tightrope walk between presidential podiums and pitch-side concerns becomes increasingly shaky—and the next hot spot might come as early as the resumption of the FIFA Council this fall.
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