On the Saturday morning of World Cup final weekend, Gianni Infantino invited all 211 nations that make up the FIFA membership to breakfast. The delegates piled into a ballroom at New York’s Waldorf Astoria hotel, FIFA’s de facto headquarters for the tournament, as if it were an old-money wedding. Infantino, the organization’s 56-year-old president, proceeded to trumpet how successful his North American World Cup had been. Record revenue, record ticket sales, and record ratings. As he closed his valedictory speech, Infantino looked ahead to next spring, when he expected to be re-elected to a third full term as FIFA president.…

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