Trump lite? ‘Existential threat’ Infantino is FIFA’s Putin. Europe must show some balls… | OneFootball

FIFA president Gianni Infantino is likened to Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and all the very worst people, while the Mailbox reminisces over the transfers with the wow factor…

We also have missives on why we don’t a winter break, being blown out by Vini Jr, and Dusan Vlahovic’s massive wedge.

Evil Infantino

And so we finally see the ultimate goal of Infantino’s, like the FIFA final boss that he is he had one final trick up his sleeve.

Whilst we all sat there dumbfounded at how much he was willing to butcher our beautiful game to appease the big orange guy, some of us may have hoped that some sort of normality would resume. What we didn’t realise was that the 2026 World Cup was just a glorified pitch deck for investors. He was providing proof of concept. Sky high ticket prices, games in quarters for advertising spots and greater guarantees on progression for the largest revenue providing players/teams in the tournament. Why wouldn’t JP Morgan and chums want to invest?

The next big World Cup success story will be ROI and I’m not talking about the republic. Buckle up as I fully expect this to only get worse. More teams is already a given by the looks of it, expect seedings for the top table teams so that they no longer need qualify, sponsors on every bit of shirt space, exclusive “members only” games for the privileged few and say goodbye to free to air tournaments.

This move by Infantino is straight out of the Putin playbook. He’ll step down in 2031 in name alone and instil a puppet in his place. With him heading up this new “commercial venture” arm of FIFA he will hold the purse strings and in turn hold the power but without all the hassle of that annoying little thing called democracy, no matter how questionable in FIFA that may already be. He won’t need to grease palms for votes as he won’t be voted for.

Let’s just hope this particular villain is more Dr Evil than Dr Doom as I fear that’s all that we have left. Hope. Anthony, Kilburn

… Am I surprised? No. Disheartened? Yes. Talking about Infantino going all in, being Trump-lite on his new grift.

Trump has created the playbook for anyone in a position of power or authority to maximize their grift potential. No longer is it necessary to try to hide and cover their tracks, as Chuck Blazer and Jack Warner did, or to bluster your way out of it, as Sepp Blatter and Platini did. Plus, by Infantino standards, they were just chump change.

No. The modern grift is all about shouting it from the rooftops, wrapping it in gold tinsel, and securing support through bribes that are made to look above board. As long as you have a large enough base of supporters to back you, you are invincible. It’s about bullying back harder when being called out. How much do we think Infantino is going to make out of this scheme? Absolutely oodles.

Hopefully, UEFA shows enough balls to say no, and all the European nations back -a boycott of any World Cup (or any other FIFA sponsored event) that has been sold off to private investors.

After all, if UEFA and possibly a couple of South American nations (Brazil, Argentina) boycott, the broadcasters and sponsors, the major revenue sources, will dry up. There will be no more backhanders to leaders of the African associations, who often keep a large chunk, and the grassroots never sees a good portion of the funds. (Even the teams may not get paid.)

Of course, with Milei in charge of Argentina, who knows which way they will go. And it’s fair to say that, unlike club football, not all the best players play for a UEFA nation. But I would think there still wouldn’t be enough razzle-dazzle for broadcasters and sponsors – especially as many of the ‘big’ names aren’t big enough draw cards. And the main audience for the broadcasters and advertisers are not Africa or poorer nations.

But it would take a huge leap for UEFA to push back hard enough. Many pushbacks are negotiation tactics to get something else. In this case, the something else is the future of the game. We’ve seen gambling creeping into advertising revenue. It wouldn’t surprise me if, once the World Cup was in private investors’ hands – even if a minority – we’d see all sorts of changes to the game to suit gambling, plus more half-time shows and ad breaks at every free kick, à la ice hockey, and so on.

While we watch as people talk about AI being a possible existential threat to humankind, Infantino is fast becoming the existential threat to football.

Is the game still something worth saving? Paul McDevitt

World Cup boycott

I’m not one to hyperventilate when obvious rogues behave like obvious rogues, but even I would admit Infantino’s alleged plan to ‘sell off’ the World Cup sounds a bit much. But isn’t there a very straightforward way of stopping this? Each country simply boycotts the next FIFA World Cup and even perhaps sets up an alternative breakaway federation. Only problem is, that would involve the national associations sticking to their professed principles which (if Qatar is anything to go by) they’re not terribly good at. Alternatively, if the World Cup goes ahead and all the major countries meekly participate, perhaps the fans and pundits could ensure it’s a commercial disaster by not watching? Ah, same problem. Fat chance of class warriors like Lineker and Neville passing up a big, fat paycheck and an all-expenses-paid month-long jolly.

For evil to triumph, as someone once said, all that is necessary is for good men to do nothing. You can complain all you like about Infantino’s behaviour, but sports, much like countries, usually end up with the leaders they deserve. Matt Pitt

… Why are the football associations not rising up at the latest Infantino x Trump assault on the beautiful game. Selling off international football, piece by piece, is the most disgusting thing I can imagine. The commercialisation of the sport sticks in my craw at the best of times, but this chopping up and selling off for parts worries me to my bones.

Know this, it is a play for money. It is greed. Infantino is already positioning himself to be the head of the body to whom these payments would be made.

Rotten. We didn’t stop the sports washing and now we are here. The game we love, nothing but ruins. Personally we need to start boycotting Fifa, withdrawing funding etc until this idea is dead on arrival. John Matrix AFC

Football335

Regarding Johnny Nic’s latest panic attack over player fatigue, why call yourself Football365 if you are afraid of a little winter football!

Elite clubs already possess a winter break. They simply refuse to use it. Nic’s claim that a lack of a winter break forces players to look like prisoners of war is magnificent theater. Aside from the issues actual PoWs might take with that statement, it ignores the blindingly obvious fact that managers can easily manufacture a voluntary, nine-to-ten-day holiday themselves simply by using their squads during the FA Cup 3rd round in January.

Instead, they actively choose not to. Last season, Arsenal and Manchester City topped the league by logging 63 matches across all competitions, yet neither team sheet suggested an urgent humanitarian crisis in January.

Pep Guardiola offered zero holiday to Haaland or Rodri, starting both in a 10-1 demolition of Exeter. Evidently, Pep would rather pad his record than pad his players. Meanwhile, Mikel Arteta ensured Declan Rice was on the bench, not the beach. Arteta had the opportunity to give Rice a genuine break and chose not to.Worse still, Arteta refused to extend even a bench holiday to other heavy-mileage centerpieces like Gabriel and Saliba, marching them straight out against Portsmouth when they could have easily skipped town entirely.

If managers are actively choosing to ignore a built-in winter break, why on earth is Johnny Nic so concerned on their behalf? If the concern is player welfare, why focus on a solution that managers can largely replicate themselves through rotation and selective resting?

Enforcing top-down structural changes merely coddles elite squads who refuse to use their benches. Worse, a mandatory calendar freeze disproportionately favors the best teams, stripping English football of the glorious, chaotic winter congestion that creates the exact underdog opportunities we live for. If Declan Rice looks like a “prisoner of war breaking rocks,” blame his manager’s selection habits—not the season structure.

Best regards, Ron Carr

…Not to give the Premier League too much credit, but is it at all possible that part of the rationale behind refusing a Winter ‘break’ is that they know only too well that the mammonish Premier league clubs will simply commericialise that window and send their “rock-breaking prisoners of war” on money-spinning tours of the US/ Qatar / Australia / Hong Kong, thus negating the whole point of giving them a break in the first place?

Given the amount Johnny Nic writes about the financial ruination of the game, I’m surprised this didn’t seem a fairly obvious outcome and also where the comparisons to the far less ‘marketable’ game North of the border break down. And I’m sure the Premier League, even if they couldn’t give two shiny shites about actual player welfare, would be very keen to protect their product from the impact of player injuries while competing in some other overseas shenanigans.

I’m not saying it’s right. I’m just saying it’s entirely probable. Chris Bridgeman, Kingston upon Thames

Wow signings

It’s very subjective, and there are some obvious candidates – Salah, Ronaldo, De Bruyne, Lampard, and from yesteryear – Zola, Vieira or Cantona.

But for me, one man stands out.

You see before this signing, real world class stars tended to look at the Premier League as somewhere you go for one last pay day – think Gullit or Klinsmann.

But Dennis Bergkamp signed for Arsenal at the age of 26. When we signed him, I honestly didn’t believe it as the Arsenal just didn’t sign players of his talent.

A decade later, he retired following the very first game at the Emirates – which was in his honour, having won a couple of league and cup doubles, was the clear player of the season in the first double year, and scored THAT goal against Newcastle. Graham Simons, Gooner, Norf London

…Thinking about which player is the biggest signing in the Premier League was an interesting one.

The PL in the last 20 years has been where stars are made, where talents are polished before they move to Barca or Madrid to stat paddle/collect baubles.

There have been some big signings in that period, Robinho, Aguero, Ozil, and especially Pogba all spring to mind.

But the big one, when a truly World Class player, in their absolute pomp, a player good enough to play anywhere in Europe, moved to a Premier League club for a World Record fee, and then lit up the league for another decade, the answer is surely Alan Shearer.

Cheers, Mossy

Custard pied by Vini Jr

It was the year 2000, and I was new to London; a group of people that I met while watching Liverpool games in my local were meeting on a Friday to celebrate a mate’s birthday. We were going to a trendy bar/club in Essex.

Being new to the area and not working in the City, I arrived at unfashionable O’clock, killing time by trying to talk to people, still blissfully unaware that in London you are only allowed to talk to people you know, or in a genuine life-or-death situation. The response was a succession of monosyllabic grunts politely informing me to get lost.

I was feeling dejected until my eyes fell upon the most beautiful girl I had seen in person; She was an absolute stunner, something along the lines of Lucy Pinder. She graciously “allowed” me to buy her a drink, and skilfully gleaned that I was not a new West Ham player, a “Rothschild” nor the owner of a gold credit card (Remember this was 2000). Halfway through the second drink, she had spotted my cheap Seiko and concluded I was not Prince Hal spending time in Cheapside.

A few minutes earlier, a City trader she seemed to know arrived. He quickly introduced himself, bought us all a drink and moments later had escorted her into a private booth his mates had booked.

I am sharing this sad tale as Vinícius Júnior stated this evening that he is going to stay at Real Madrid. And I must ask whether any Arsenal fan really thought that Vini Jr was interested in Arsenal in any meaningful way? If you did, the Lego Sith Lord really has you drinking his Kool-Aid.

Vini was playing the “new contract” game, yet the Arsenal internet fan base was awash with, “we’re going to be the biggest club”, “we’re catching Liverpool”, and “our projections are through the roof”. So were Enron’s!

However, much like the beauty that gave me 30mins to see if I was compatible with her preferred lifestyle, I don’t blame either of them. They were both simply testing the waters, and Arsenal and I were merely the chum needed to attract the bigger fish.

Vlahowmuch?

Short note on the requested salary in the Vlahovic article. In Italy reported salaries are typically quoted net of tax, which means that for his EUR 8 million/year quote, Juventus would have had to fork out around 14-15 million. While UK tax rates are, I believe, slighty lower than Italy’s, what Vlahovic requested is more like £250,000 a week in terms UK numbers are usually quoted. That might explain the reluctance of any other club to sign him, and the rumours that he might be willing to take a cut to re-sign for Juventus since no one will take a punt on him at that price.