How Trump’s Greenland obsession could spark a World Cup boycott

Key Highlights

• If it seems absurd that all of this is the responsibility of one man, that’s just the way the system has been designed.
• Fifa is not the forum for constructive debate. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThis obviously goes way beyond any embarrassment over the Fifa Peace Prize, even as that gained an absurd new symbolism from Donald Trump’s post about its Nobel “competitor”.
• Where it is really relevant, however, is in how it makes Infantino even more central to a story that could yet collapse this World Cup.
• If that sounds ridiculous, just look at the headlines. In normal cases, after all, a more apolitical federation could fairly cast itself as a victim of geopolitical events. Infantino’s open courting of Trump, however, makes him a much more central character in the drama.
• “He simply has to be worried about what next,” in the words of one source who knows him. Other senior officials believe Infantino is hoping this will ultimately pass in the way most Trump flare-ups do.