A complaint has been lodged with the International Olympic Committee accusing FIFA president Gianni Infantino of violating rules on political neutrality, Yankee Scores reports.
The breach is not unconnected to his dealings with President Donald Trump.
The human rights NGO FairSquare said Infantino, who joined the IOC in 2020, has repeatedly broken the Olympic Charter and the IOC code of ethics, most recently in the way he handled the Folarin Balogun affair.
FIFA’s disciplinary committee overturned the one-match ban on the United States striker, meaning he will be available for their World Cup round-of-16 clash with Belgium. That came after a phone call from Trump to Infantino, with Infantino insisting FIFA’s committees are completely independent.
The complaint news follows an ESPN report that dozens of European lawmakers were seeking support to launch an investigation of the FIFA boss in the European Parliament.
For sports bodies like FIFA, the IOC says neutrality is a “fundamental principle of Olympism” and it has jurisdiction over Infantino, who joined the IOC’s exclusive club of more than 100 invited members in 2020.
The Times first reported that disciplinary committee chair Mohammad Al Kamali made the decision alone to suspend the ban, and that he has never been the sole arbiter in any published disciplinary cases, sources told ESPN.
FIFA has not given a reason for suspending the ban.
The breaches are as follows:
“Gianni Infantino has repeatedly breached the IOC’s rules on political neutrality by offering his political support for the President of the United States, Donald Trump,” FairSquare said in a statement.
“As outlined below, the evidence suggests that Mr Infantino has committed five clear breaches of IOC rules on political neutrality through statements or other clear expressions of support for the US President.
“We have also provided prima facie evidence of two further serious breaches, which we would request that the IOC investigate. The first of these relates to possible acquiescence to political pressure from President Trump to circumvent FIFA’s on-field disciplinary rules during the 2026 men’s World Cup.
“The second of these relates to Mr Infantino’s promotion of a FIFA fan site for the 2026 men’s World Cup, which appears to have been part of a data-harvesting campaign run by entities linked to President Trump.”
