Andrew Giuliani, the former executive director of the White House Task Force for the 2026 World Cup, has leapt to the defence of FIFA president Gianni Infantino amid the ongoing fallout over the abandoned FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) plan — insisting that anyone in football who wants rid of the embattled chief "needs to get their head examined".

Giuliani, who worked closely with Infantino before and during this summer's tournament, has become one of the FIFA president's most vocal defenders. His intervention follows Infantino's U-turn on FFE — a proposal that would have seen world soccer's governing body make stakes in the World Cup available for private investment — which has led UEFA, Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to conclude that he should now resign.

'It's politics'

Giuliani, son of former New York City Mayor and Donald Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, dismissed the calls for Infantino's resignation as driven by jealousy rather than legitimate grievance.

"It's politics," he told The Athletic. "I've seen this before. I've seen it before when they've targeted President Trump from a political perspective. I've seen it before when they've targeted other people. People are jealous when people are very high achievers. And what Gianni Infantino has done for FIFA is he's taken them to a whole new level that probably they didn't think was possible."

Giuliani stressed that this summer's tournament was the first World Cup delivered under Infantino's own vision, having inherited the Russia and Qatar editions from his predecessor.

"You've got to remember, this is the very first World Cup that Gianni Infantino was president for landing, right? He inherited the Russia and Qatar World Cups, and did a good job with those, but this is the first one. It's his vision on this," he said.

Warning to confederation presidents

The former executive director issued a blunt warning to any football leaders contemplating opposing Infantino at next year's elections.

"What I'll tell you is that for any soccer confederation or football federation president who is thinking about not voting for Gianni Infantino, it would probably be one of the most foolish decisions of your professional life," Giuliani said. "This guy literally just put on the largest global sporting event ever without any incident, making over four times the revenue of the last World Cup, and you're thinking of ousting him. If Gianni Infantino doesn't get re-elected unanimously, then whoever voted against him needs to get their head examined."

Giuliani also quipped that FIFA "might need a 'Save FIFA Act'" — a wry reference to Trump's 'SAVE America Act', which would require Americans to provide ID and proof of citizenship to vote in elections.

Trump's backing

The support follows a Truth Social post from Donald Trump on Monday evening, in which the U.S. President said it would be a "terrible mistake" for football's leaders to oust the 56-year-old Swiss-Italian.

"FIFA would be making a terrible mistake if, for any reason, they even considered replacing president Gianni Infantino," Trump's post read. "He is fantastic, having just presided over the most successful World Cup, by four times, ever presented. If he is gone, it will never be as successful or profitable again."

'Look at the body of work'

Like Trump previously, Giuliani said he was not aware of the FFE proposal before it was reported in the media, and called on Infantino's critics to step back and assess his full "body of work". He also revealed he has spoken to Infantino since the fallout, saying the FIFA president has a "good plan over the next few months into March of next year to get re-elected for a third and final term".

"Look, we're all human beings, and I think Gianni has made his statement on it recently, but I think it's one of those things where people have looked and sports has become monetised and commercialised," Giuliani said of the FFE plan. "I would just say that you have got to look at Gianni's full body of work and to also realise that he's always trying to improve his organisation, and I think that's the thing. Just because you're always trying to improve doesn't mean that you're not going to take a misstep here or there, right? As a human being, it happens, but I would look at the body of work and say this is the guy I'd want leading."