Is Trump giving the FIFA World Cup a MAGA makeover?
Americast
BBC
4.2 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 5 December 2025
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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 • Anthony Zurcher, North America Correspondent
GUEST: Henry Bushnell, Senior Writer for the Athletic
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 [email protected] • Or use #Americast
This episode was made by George Dabby with Alix Pickles and Grace Reeve. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
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
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:07.4 | I'm sure there used to be quiet news days. |
| 0:10.4 | Not anymore. These days, the news never stops, and nor do we. |
| 0:14.4 | That's why there are new episodes of newscasts seven days a week. |
| 0:17.8 | And sometimes even that isn't enough. |
| 0:19.8 | Listen to newscast every day on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:22.8 | For years now, Donald Trump has been developing a pretty cozy friendship with Gianni Infantino. |
| 0:28.4 | He is the president of FIFA, and that's football's governing world body. |
| 0:32.2 | And the two of them have got pretty matey. |
| 0:34.0 | Ever since in 2018, America won the bid to co-host the 2026 World Cup. |
| 0:40.3 | And it's going to be very special. I look forward to it. |
| 0:43.3 | So let's see, 2026. I won't be here. I won't be here. |
| 0:48.3 | Maybe they'll extend the 10 because I know they'd love to see something. |
| 0:51.3 | Because if they don't extend, the media is going to be very boring. It's going to be very boring. They're all be out of business, I guess. Now, at the time, Donald Trump was very happy about that, but thought he would not be in office to see it happen. Well, of course, as it transpired, he lost the election in 2020, came back in 2024, and he will be sitting pretty in the White House as America co-hosts this |
| 1:12.8 | World Cup next summer. Yet, this is Donald Trump. So it's always got political. There are |
| 1:18.4 | questions about whether FIFA's losing its political neutrality, whether Donald Trump is trying |
| 1:22.8 | to use this to its advantage. Basically, can he magify the World Cup? That's what we're asking today. Welcome to |
| 1:30.1 | AmeriCast. Americaast from BBC News. When Donald Trump calls, they say yes, sir, right away, sir. Happy to lick |
| 1:40.6 | your boot, sir. We are the sickest country in the world. |
| 1:47.5 | Oh, dear. Are you worried that billionaires are going to go hungry? |
| 1:50.6 | Of course the president supports peaceful protest. What a stupid question. |
| 1:53.0 | Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? |
... |
Transcript will be available on the free plan in 26 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.