The 2026 World Cup was, by almost any measure, extraordinary — a month of genuine drama capped by Spain’s win over Argentina in the final. Gianni Infantino wants you to know he thinks so too, and beyond that wants to make clear that he is the main architect of the tournament’s success. The World Cup didn’t need defending, though. Infantino’s conduct throughout it did.

In a rambling 15-slide statement posted to his personal Instagram account, Infantino thanked the governments of host nations the US, Mexico, and Canada, along with police forces and volunteers, for delivering what he called the greatest World Cup ever staged. He then promptly turned on anyone who’d raised concerns during the tournament, accusing critics of being “consumed by hate” and telling them to “reflect, meditate, pray, or watch a football match” instead. On the visa chaos that blocked fans and officials from countries including Iran, Haiti, Senegal, and Ivory Coast — and even kept a match referee out of the country entirely — he insisted only a handful of people had actually been refused entry, framing the millions who did get in as the real story. He brushed off the controversial, White House-influenced reversal of Folarin Balogun’s suspension as no different to decisions made in any major league, even as a leaked letter praising Argentina’s conduct after the final surfaced amid FIFA’s own ongoing investigation into the same players.

For FIFA or any individual to claim credit for the success of the World Cup is like a landlord taking a bow for the party happening in a flat he merely owns. It’s actually harder to screw up the staging of a North American World Cup than to facilitate its smooth running. Football is a sport that captivates the spirit, is played globally, and whose relative scarcity of global tournaments means the World Cup is the hottest ticket in the sporting calendar. Couple that with a target market boasting world-leading sports infrastructure, fanbase, and wealth, and it becomes a case of facilitation above anything else in driving success. It has become a common feeling of relief when the World Cup begins, because the majority of the background noise and scandal becomes secondary to what is still a product without comparison.

Yet that background noise needs to be addressed, and there are already attempts being made to do so. A US Democratic lawmaker has requested that Infantino appear before the House Judiciary Committee for a transcribed interview about the full extent of his relationship with Trump. Whether Infantino fulfils the request is another matter, but there is evidence that those with influence are seeking retribution for FIFA’s political meddling. Clearly someone must answer for the catalogue of scandal that has plagued this World Cup — from exploitative ticketing to visa restrictions and, most recently, political lobbying in the case of the Balogun red card reversal. To say that Infantino threatens to bring the game into disrepute is an understatement.

Despite all this, Infantino’s grip on power is remarkably safe. While his reputation among European federations has hit low points, over 200 of FIFA’s 211 member associations have backed his upcoming re-election for a fourth term in March 2027. This says more about FIFA’s election system and delegates than anything else — Infantino’s predecessors are hardly the mark of respectability either. What these administrators have in common, though, is an immense ability to wield power through FIFA, delivering extraordinary revenues through events like the World Cup to drive support from delegate voting blocs. Whether you call this corruption or lobbying is for personal reflection, but there exists a murkiness within FIFA’s governance that lets its president claim every triumph as his own while facing no real accountability for any of the failures.

In the end, the World Cup succeeded in spite of Gianni Infantino, not because of him. Fans, players, and the game itself did the work; he simply stood in front of it when the cameras arrived. Until FIFA’s own members hold him to that standard, his next re-election won’t be a verdict on his conduct, just further proof of how little conduct has ever mattered to the people who keep him in office.