Dozens of mayors and other city leaders gathered in the ballroom of a Washington hotel on a snowy January morning this year gripped by anger and anxiety about the federal government’s increasingly aggressive immigration enforcement operation that included the killings of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis.
And then FIFA President Gianni Infantino took the stage.
“For the first time in 250 years of history of the United States of America, well, you will not just be invaded but you will be conquered,” he said as the audience at the National Conference of Mayors largely reacted with silence.
“You will be conquered by soccer,” he added in an attempt to land the joke and get the crowd energized about the World Cup, which will be hosted jointly by the U.S., Mexico and Canada from Thursday through July 19.
Ahead of the tournament, Infantino has successfully cozied up to President Trump, creating a peace prize that was awarded to him and frequently visiting the White House, including a stop last week, when he was photographed alongside the Republican president admiring changes outside the Oval Office.
Infantino has struggled with virtually everyone else.
In a deeply polarized country, few things unite elected leaders outside the White House quite like skepticism of Infantino and FIFA, the governing body for the world’s most popular sport. It’s a sentiment that cuts across the divide and spans from Washington to state capitals and city halls.
There are mayors like Zohran Mamdani of New York and Karen Bass of Los Angeles, Democrats who’ve balked at ticket prices. Mamdani eventually secured 1,000 tickets for New Yorkers at $50 per seat. The attorneys general in New York and New Jersey, also Democrats, started an investigation into ticket prices last month. In New Jersey, Gov. Mikie Sherrill, another Democrat, demanded help from FIFA to cover millions of dollars in transit costs before ultimately turning to new advertising revenue to help cover the gap.
Despite his ties to Infantino, even the president has criticized World Cup ticket prices, telling The New York Post he wouldn’t pay the $1,000 prices to watch the U.S. play its opening game against Paraguay.
In an interview, Republican Sen. Todd Young of Indiana, who played Division 1 soccer at the U.S. Naval Academy, said FIFA has been “detached from regular people around the world.”
“It really is a cabal run by elites,” he added. “They really have had problems with corruption over the years, and one really does get the sense that they may overlook their singular mission, which is to help grow the sport, especially among young people around the world who wouldn’t otherwise have the resources to access soccer.”
“Every good soccer fan who loves international football wishes Infantino would be a little less in the news and more promoting the game,” Rep. Rick Larsen, Washington Democrat, said in an interview.
A FIFA representative didn’t respond to a request for comment. FIFA’s skeptics said they were still enthusiastic about the 48-team tournament. Some lawmakers said Infantino was navigating a challenging political environment in the U.S.
Infantino is “doing the job he needs to do in terms of cultivating the Trump administration,” said Rep. Darin LaHood, Illinois Republican and the chair of the Congressional Soccer Caucus.
There are signs that the political divisions that course through so much of American culture also apply to the World Cup.
Democrats and independents are more likely than Republicans to say they plan to watch World Cup games, according to an Ipsos poll conducted in May. Earlier polling found Democrats were more likely to be “very” or “somewhat” interested in the matches.
While Republicans are less eager to tune into games, they feel a stronger sense of national pride than Democrats do from the U.S. team’s performance and participation in the World Cup. About two-thirds of Republicans said the U.S. team’s participation makes them proud to be American, compared with slightly less than half of Democrats.
But for soccer enthusiasts in Washington, the hope is that the tournament could provide a rare break from the constant partisan battle.
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