Rights group to take Infantino neutrality complaint to IOC
FairSquare says FIFA’s Gianni Infantino breached neutrality rules through support for Donald Trump and wants Olympic ethics officials to review his conduct.
By Sofia Marchetti · World Affairs Correspondent
3 min read
Human rights group FairSquare says it will ask the International Olympic Committee to examine FIFA President Gianni Infantino over alleged breaches of political neutrality tied to his support for US President Donald Trump. The planned complaint matters because Infantino has been an IOC member since 2020, giving Olympic ethics officials a potential role beyond FIFA’s own internal process.
FairSquare said it intends to complain to the IOC over what it described as Infantino’s “repeated breach of political neutrality rules.” The move extends a dispute that began inside football’s governing body, where FairSquare filed a complaint with the FIFA Ethics Committee in December 2025.
That FIFA complaint cited several occasions on which FairSquare said Infantino publicly supported Trump’s actions and policies. It also asked FIFA’s Ethics Committee to examine Infantino’s role in creating a FIFA Peace Prize and in awarding it to Trump.
FIFA presented Trump with the new Peace Prize at the 2026 World Cup final draw in Washington on December 5, 2025. FairSquare has asked whether the FIFA Council approved the creation of the annual prize and the award to Trump, or whether Infantino acted on his own.
Neutrality rules at issue
FairSquare says its complaint centers on Article 15 of the FIFA Code of Ethics, which covers the duty of neutrality. Under that code, people bound by FIFA ethics rules must remain politically neutral in official dealings.
Breaches can be punished by a fine of at least 10,000 Swiss francs, about $12,400, and a ban of up to two years from football-related activity. FairSquare said that if Infantino acted without authority, it should be treated as an abuse of power.
IOC President Kirsty Coventry said Tuesday that the IOC had not received a complaint for its ethics commission to consider. She added that if a complaint is submitted, the commission would examine it.
FairSquare said FIFA’s Secretariat of the Investigatory Chamber acknowledged receiving its complaint in December, but the group said FIFA had given no sign that a formal investigation had started. According to Reuters, FIFA told FairSquare that the secretariat may begin preliminary inquiries into a possible ethics breach if instructed by the chairperson of the Investigatory Chamber.
Reuters reported that a complaint to FIFA does not automatically trigger ethics proceedings. Complainants are also not treated as parties to those proceedings, and confidentiality rules can limit updates or further information.
Pressure on FIFA grows
FairSquare launched a public campaign called Reboot one week before the World Cup began, saying it was aimed at serious reform of FIFA. The group said last week that 50 members of the European Parliament had written to FIFA’s Ethics Committee in support of the complaint against Infantino.
The Norwegian Football Federation has also backed an official complaint, asking FIFA’s Ethics Committee to assess whether Infantino violated the governing body’s statutes on political neutrality through the Peace Prize and related conduct.
The controversy has continued during the World Cup. FIFA suspended American striker Folarin Balogun’s red-card ban and cleared him to play against Belgium in the last 16 after Trump personally urged Infantino to review the case, according to Reuters. The United States lost the match 4-1.
Infantino denied involvement in the final decision on Balogun’s suspension, Reuters reported.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.