Published on 6/23/2026
The captain of the German team that won the 2014 World Cup, Philipp Lahm, criticized the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) and its president, Gianni Infantino, considering that the way the game and the most important tournament in the world are managed raises several questions.
In an article published in the German newspaper Die Zeit, Lahm said, “The most worrying thing is Gianni Infantino’s closeness to rulers such as US President Donald Trump,” considering that this relationship falls within a broader scene in which football has become linked to considerations that go beyond the sporting aspect.
Lahm added, “The World Cup is being sold as if it were a commodity, and this robs football of its credibility,” noting that there are people involved in managing the game who “have other goals in mind, and ambiguous and unclear matters.”
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The former German player also criticized the significant increase in ticket prices for World Cup matches held in North America, considering that FIFA “maximizes its profits by not providing honest information about the size of the real demand for tickets.”
Lahm reaffirmed his position rejecting the idea of holding the World Cup every two years, an idea previously put forward by Infantino, explaining that any tournament needs sufficient time to prepare and follow up in order to maintain its value and sustainable impact.
He also touched on the overcrowding of the match calendar, considering that the expansion of the Club World Cup increased the physical burden on the players, especially with the addition of a tournament that extends for several weeks and sometimes in difficult climatic conditions, which increases the pressures imposed on the players.
Despite his harsh criticism, Lahm expressed his support for the decision to expand the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams, stressing that it is FIFA’s duty to contribute to the development of football globally, and that this can only be achieved by giving a larger number of teams the opportunity to participate, even if this results in a disparity in level and quality between the participating teams.
