The world is now witnessing a masterclass in selective outrage.
Western football pundits, journalists, and self-appointed guardians of the game’s integrity are throwing tantrums over Gianni Infantino’s latest act of treachery – bending FIFA’s rules to reverse a red card issued to American striker Folarin Balogun following Donald Trump’s threats.
Their sudden fury is as comical as it is diabolical.
Where was this righteous indignation when Infantino himself clawed his way to the FIFA presidency through judicial intervention? It was the FBI, the U.S. Department of Justice, and Swiss Federal Prosecutors who raided FIFA headquarters in 2015, arresting officials who had blocked his path – starting with Michel Platini.
That raid, led by then-U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Swiss prosecutor Michael Lauber, was not about cleaning up football. It was about installing a more pliable figure.
Infantino’s own criminal entanglements – his dealings with Qatar, secret meetings with Michael Lauber to influence judicial proceedings, and the subsequent collapse of a special prosecutor’s probe by Stephen Keller – are well documented.
Switzerland was even branded a “banana republic” for shielding him.
The Football Leaks scandal further exposed how, as UEFA General Secretary, Infantino actively helped Manchester City and Sheikh Mansour evade Financial Fair Play punishments. Der Spiegel’s 2018 revelations showed UEFA’s supposedly independent regulators being undermined to protect Europe’s richest, state-backed clubs.
Yet Western media remained largely muted. They only discovered their love for “rules” and “integrity” when the beneficiary was Donald Trump.
This same Infantino engineered the 2021 CAF presidential election, where candidates were pressured to withdraw so Patrice Motsepe could be anointed. CAF was swiftly transformed into a FIFA satellite office, with roughly 60% of its staff now foreigners – many former FIFA employees.
The sham election of Swiss citizen Veron Mosengo-Omba as DRC FA President followed the same script: suspicious withdrawals and Infantino’s heavy hand.
Under his watch, African football has been systematically gutted. Some CAF tournaments have been relocated to Saudi Arabia.
UEFA has been the biggest winner – gorging on African media rights, sponsorships from betting syndicates, talent drain, and even the booming human trafficking pipeline disguised as football academies. While African football bleeds, Infantino’s Western partners eat in silence.
The recent CAF decision to strip Senegal of the AFCON title was widely seen as Infantino placating the King of Morocco for personal favours. This is the same man who sees himself as a geopolitical oracle, using his FIFA title to broker deals for Jared Kushner and other connected interests.
Now, suddenly, Western pundits are up in arms because Donald Trump applied pressure. Their outrage has nothing to do with defending the rules of the game. It has everything to do with who is benefiting.
When Infantino was looting FIFA coffers, installing puppets, destroying African football, and colluding with state-backed clubs, these same voices were largely quiet or even apologetic. They only scream “integrity” when the outcome displeases their racial and political disposition.
Infantino is not a defender of football. He is a power-hungry lawyer who schemed his way into the presidency through American and Swiss judicial manipulation, dismantled FIFA’s independent structures, filled committees with puppets and joyriders, and reduced the world’s most universal tournament into a vehicle for personal and geopolitical gain.
The Western football establishment’s current tantrum is not principled. It is hypocritical, self-serving ragebait. They are not defending the game. They are defending their own interests – and their selective silence over the years proves it.
