US President Donald Trump has publicly backed Fifa president Gianni Infantino, warning it would be a "terrible mistake" to remove him from his role. The intervention comes after Uefa, Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation issued a joint open letter accusing Infantino of breaking trust "through deception" over his now-abandoned Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposal, marking Trump's first defence of the Fifa chief since the controversy emerged.

The FFE plan would have created a new company to manage commercial and ticketing rights across all Fifa competitions, including World Cups, with 21% of it sold to a private investment firm reportedly led by Thrive Eternal, a venture capital firm founded by Joshua Kushner, brother of Trump's son-in-law Jared. Writing on social media, Trump praised Infantino for overseeing "the most successful World Cup, by four times, ever presented," referring to the 2026 tournament co-hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico, which Spain won by beating Argentina in the final. Trump had earlier said, on 31 July, that he had not discussed the FFE proposals directly with Infantino.