Lineker and Cole call out Infantino's relentless World Cup camera appearances

Gary Lineker and Joe Cole have taken aim at FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s seemingly choreographed television appearances at the 2026 World Cup, with Cole admitting the pattern has become impossible to ignore.

Speaking on The Rest is Football podcast, Cole described a pattern he now cannot unsee. “Every game, in the first half and the second half, they have to show Infantino’s head on the telly,” he said. “Just like, you’re the head of the federation — just a megalomania about him: he needs to be front and centre.”

Lineker backed him up with a precise observation: “You’ll watch the coverage. In the first 10 minutes of the first half, the first 10 minutes of the second half, you will see a shot of Gianni Infantino.”

The frustration is not without context. Infantino is reported to have taken more than 27 flights during the tournament, which is being staged across the United States, Mexico and Canada. According to the BBC, he attended two matches per day during the group stage — often hundreds of miles apart — and on some occasions required three separate flights in a single day.

Cole went further, recalling a charity match in Dubai roughly five years ago in which Infantino was also playing. “He was strolling around the pitch, nobody is touching him — everyone’s all like ‘oh Mister…’ The ball dropped in midfield and I thought ‘I could do him here,’” Cole said. “I pulled out. The gentleman in me pulled out, but I regretted it because I could have really cleaned him out. Infantino’s annoyed me.”

A FIFA spokesperson defended the president’s travel schedule, stating: “The FIFA president routinely travels, together with relevant officials, on business and tournament-related matters and strives to visit member associations of FIFA whenever he can. Sometimes travel is organised on commercial airlines and sometimes on private charter, depending on which is more efficient and cost-effective under the circumstances.”

The renewed scrutiny of Infantino comes just days after FIFA suspended a one-game ban handed to United States striker Folarin Balogun, a decision that drew its own share of criticism.