"This World Cup alone is supposed to be $11 billion plus in revenue for FIFA, more than any sporting event in the history of humankind... Infantino has long been an enabler of sportswashing." -- Jules Boykoff, author of Red Card.
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FEATURING JULES BOYKOFF - When a US Men’s soccer team player was called out for a foul during a World Cup 2026 match, the player was penalized from playing one game. But, President Donald Trump reportedly personally called Gianni Infantino, the head of FIFA to protest and the foul was reversed. For those who have closely studied FIFA and the corruption of organized sports, this was not surprising. A new book by former US Men’s Olympic soccer player Jules Boykoff traces the troubling history of FIFA.
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Breaking ICE: Community Self Defense Against State Terror and MAGA Fascism. According to sports analyst Dave Zirin who wrote the book’s foreword, “This book is for leftists who love soccer—and may even plan on watching the 2026 World Cup—who want to understand how authoritarians like Trump use the people’s game to engage in sportswashing.”
Jules Boykoff is the author of Red Card: The 2026 World Cup, Sportswashing, and the FIFA Greed Machine (OR Books, 2026) and Kicking (Duke University Press, 2026), a memoir about his former life as a professional footballer and his current life as an academic, critical of sport.
He has also written six books on the politics of the Olympics, most recently, What Are the Olympics For? (Bristol University Press, 2024). His writing has appeared in outlets such as The Nation, The Guardian, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Globe and Mail, Folha de São Paulo, and Common Dreams. He teaches political science at Pacific University.
He spoke with Sonali Kolhatkar about FIFA and his new book.
ROUGH TRANSCRIPT:
Sonali Kolhatkar: So it shouldn't have surprised us that Trump was just able to call his buddy and get this foul reversed. But for people who were watching the game thinking that there ought to be this fair standard, that in sports it's just about the rules and about sportsmanship and playing, it was shocking. How buddy-buddy is Trump with Infantino, and why did this probably not shock you?
Jules Boykoff: Well, there's no question that this was the rescinded red card heard round the world, and it got a ton of attention. And just like US President Donald Trump wanted, it put him at the center of attention at the world's most popular sporting event. Now, for those who've been following Mr. Trump in the lead into this tournament, you're right. It wasn't a huge surprise. We've been expecting him to jump in perhaps even more than he has to this point to try to avail himself of the power of this tournament for his political advantage.
Let's not forget that Donald Trump is the president in recent history in the United States that has used sports to his political advantage more than any other. He's the guy that held the big UFC mixed martial arts battle three days into this World Cup on the White House South Lawn. So he weighs in. He clearly knows nothing about soccer, unfortunately, and that became immediately clear when he said it wasn't even a foul at all.
I can tell you, as a soccer person, I not only thought it was a foul, but I actually thought it was a red card offense. The bigger point is that President Trump has a penchant for using sports to his advantage, and he really tests the idea that you can be more politically effective by being less explicitly political, and sports provide the perfect vehicle for testing that theory.
