Is Trump giving the FIFA World Cup a MAGA makeover?
Americast
Gifts, praise and courting Trump
The hosts recount Infantino’s gifts and public praise that have cultivated a warm relationship with Trump.
As the United States gets ready to host the Fifa World Cup 2026, Americast looks at what’s behind the close relationship between Donald Trump and the president of football’s world governing body, Gianna Infantino. Sarah and Anthony go back to 2018, in Trump’s first term, when America won its bid to host the 2026 World Cup. We look at how the relationship between Infantino and Trump has developed since then, and examine claims that the Fifa World Cup is being over politicised by both men.
The US president has threatened to move scheduled games away from Democrat cities, and the Fifa president has been criticised for creating a special peace prize that Donald Trump is widely expected to win.
What does the World Cup really mean for Donald Trump, and how will that impact on wider America, and the fans who watch the event?
Hosts Sarah Smith, North America editor and Anthony Zurcher, North America correspondent are joined by guest Henry Bushnell, senior writer for the Athletic
Producer: George Dabby with Alix Pickles and Grace Reeve
Sound engineer: Mike Regaard
Editor: Sam Bonham
Get in touch: • Join our online community: https://discord.gg/qSrxqNcmRB • Send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 9480 • Email Americast@bbc.co.uk • Or use #Americast
If you want to be notified every time we publish a new episode, please subscribe to us on BBC Sounds by hitting the subscribe button on the app.
You can now listen to Americast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Americast”. It works on most smart speakers.
US Election Unspun: Sign up for Anthony’s BBC newsletter: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68093155
Americast is part of the BBC News Podcasts family of podcasts. The team that makes Americast also makes lots of other podcasts, including Newscast and Ukrainecast. If you enjoy Americast (and if you're reading this then you hopefully do), then we think that you will enjoy some of our other pods too. See links below.
Newscast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/p05299nl Ukrainecast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0bqztzm Radical: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0gg4k6r The Global Story: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/w13xtvsd
The AI-powered Podcast Player
