FIFA president and notorious Donald Trump suck-up Gianni Infantino has been hit with a criminal complaint just days before the World Cup kicks off in cities across North America.
Infantino has spent the last year trying to curry favor with Trump in the hopes of pulling off a seamless World Cup and burnishing his organization’s image, which has been tarnished by years of corruption allegations.
After Trump was denied the Nobel Peace Prize last year, Infantino cooked up a consolation FIFA Peace Prize and presented it to the U.S. president in a ceremony at the Kennedy Center.
He also invited Trump on stage to present the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup champions—and then didn’t bat an eye when Trump decided to keep the trophy for himself, forcing English club Chelsea to accept a replica later.
On Monday, three days before the World Cup’s opening match, Infantino was named in a complaint filed in French court by Former Union of European Football Association (UEFA) president Michel Platini, ESPN reported.
Platini—who was a decorated soccer star and coach before he became the first former player to lead the UEFA—was favored to take over the FIFA presidency in 2016.
But in 2015, he was banned for eight years by FIFA’s ethics committee over a corruption scandal involving a payment he’d received from a colleague. The Court of Arbitration for Sport reduced the ban to four years, and a Swiss federal criminal court acquitted him of related charges in 2022.
His complaint alleges that Infantino led a conspiracy of false accusation and influence peddling to prevent him from becoming the organization’s president.
Infantino was serving under Platini as general secretary of the UEFA, and his boss’s ban cleared the way for him to claim the presidency in 2016.
Platini’s lawyers will also file a civil lawsuit seeking damages from FIFA, a spokesperson for Platini told ESPN.
The Daily Beast has reached out to FIFA for comment.
This year’s world cup is taking place simultaneously in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
The U.S. events have already been hit by a series of setbacks, including a ticket pricing scandal, tens of thousands of unsold seats, and the deportation of a top referee.
Reservations for hotel rooms in U.S. cities are also trailing reservations in Canada and Mexico, despite Infantino holding several promotional events in the Oval Office—including one in which Trump lusted after the tournament’s gold trophy.
