Infantino is getting his karmic kicking, but why did football take so long to rebel against Fifa?

The Guardian published a highly critical commentary on August 5, 2026 arguing that FIFA president Gianni Infantino is finally receiving his 'karmic kicking' as UEFA, CONCACAF, and other football bodies rebel against his leadership — but questioning why it took the football world so long to push back against a regime that has inflicted such damage on the sport. The commentary describes the 2022 Qatar World Cup in extremely negative terms, framing it as the original sin that should have triggered resistance long before the current governance crisis. Central to the critique is the human cost of the Qatar World Cup: the thousands of migrant workers who died or were injured building the stadiums, infrastructure, and facilities for the tournament, a toll that was documented by human rights organizations and reported extensively but ultimately did not prevent the tournament from proceeding or Infantino from consolidating his power. The commentary references the reputational damage inflicted on football by its association with Qatar, arguing that the sport's willingness to embrace a tournament built on exploitation and death revealed a moral rot at the heart of FIFA's governance. The piece connects the current governance rebellion — over a scrapped World Cup deal that drew condemnation from UEFA and CONCACAF — to the longer pattern of Infantino's controversial leadership, of which the Qatar World Cup was the most prominent example. The commentary's central question — why did football take so long? — implies that the football establishment was willing to tolerate ethical compromises, migrant deaths, and governance abuses as long as the commercial engine kept running, and only rebelled when its own institutional interests were directly threatened.