U.S. President Donald Trump has offered his support to the embattled Gianni Infanitno by saying it would be a “terrible mistake” if he is removed as FIFA president.

Trump’s post on Truth Social on Monday night followed an open letter from UEFA, Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), where they said trust had been “broken through deception” and remained steadfast in no longer wanting him to continue in his role.

Infantino has been under intense pressure since his now scrapped FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposal was revealed by the media on July 28.

This would have seen world soccer’s governing body make stakes in its commercial and event operations, including the World Cups and Club World Cups, available for private investment.

But now Trump, who has enjoyed a close relationship with Infantino in recent years and was alongside the FIFA president at the World Cup final in New Jersey on July 19, has backed him to stay in post.

“Fifa would be making a terrible mistake if, for any reason, they even considered replacing president Gianni Infantino,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, commenting for the first time since the FFE plans emerged.

Trump helped present the World Cup trophy to Spain last month. (Carl Recine / Getty Images)

“He is fantastic, having just presided over the most successful World Cup, by four times, ever presented. If he is gone, it will never be as successful or profitable again.”

Trump was previously asked about FIFA’s FFE proposals on July 31, but said that he had not been in touch with Infantino over the plans.

However, Thrive Eternal, the American venture capital company, which was founded by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Trump’s son-in-law Jared, is the investment fund FIFA wanted to sell a 21 per cent stake in a new entity that runs its tournaments for $4.2billion (£3.1bn).

The World Cup, which was jointly hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico, led to Infantino and Trump forging a close relationship.

Trump was awarded the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize by Infantino during the World Cup draw in Washington in December, with a FIFA press release saying at the time that it was introduced to “reward individuals who have taken exceptional and extraordinary actions for peace and by doing so have united people across the world”.

It also came after Trump failed to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize earlier in the year, an award Infantino had publicly lobbied for him to win via a social media post.

The prize was announced by FIFA in November and, similar to Infantino’s FFE plan, did not receive prior approval from the FIFA Council.

Since Brexit, and with the UK no longer part of the European Union, clubs now have to navigate a more complex work permit system to ensure players – especially those who are yet to establish themselves at the top level – are able to move to England.

Austria youth international Ndukwe doesn’t currently have enough points to obtain a Governing Body Endorsement (GBE) to obtain a work visa.

There is another route into the squad, through taking up an Elite Significant Contribution (ESC) slot, which is awarded to foreign players who do not qualify for the standard GBE.

Premier League and Championship clubs have up to four ESC places available, based on the percentage of minutes clubs gave to their England Qualified Players (EQP) in the previous campaign.

But clubs are not entitled to all four spots automatically.

The magic number is 35% of minutes, which means clubs can use four ESC players. Dropping below that begins to reduce the number of ESC slots available.

Liverpool‘s percentage last season means they only get one ESC place, which has already been taken by Senegalese 18-year-old Mor Talla Ndiaye.

Last season, Freddie Woodman, Gomez, Rhys Williams, Curtis Jones, Trey Nyoni and Rio Ngumoha were the only English players in Liverpool‘s squad, playing a collective 83 times in the Premier League.

This comes after Liverpool lost the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jarell Quansah, Tyler Morton and loaned out Harvey Elliott.

Beimers’ approach has already opened doors he would have been unlikely to get if he had chosen to stay in Belfast.

Travelling in a van has helped his appeal to clubs, who don’t have to pay for travel or accommodation, like they would with other players.

Instead, Beimers and his dad can find somewhere to pull up for the night nearby, and he’s ready to go.

When he doesn’t have trials, they can also drive to nearby beaches to train, or take the bikes off the beaten track.

Something else that helps Beimers is his passport situation.

Beimers was born in Northern Ireland to Canadian parents, and represented Canada at the Under-17 World Cup in 2025.

He also holds a Dutch passport through his grandfather, which helps with player registration with European clubs.

“It’s nice to not know where you’re going, even though there’s quite a lot of things that we have sorted out. It’s good to be free and just be less scheduled.

“I love learning from new coaches, new environments. So I thought, ‘yeah, let’s mix it up a bit’.”

Beimers says he wants to play “at the highest level possible” in his career, and his ultimate goal is to play against some of the biggest sides in Europe.

“I want to play against Barcelona or Real Madrid. Give me one game against one of those big clubs and then I’ll just retire after that,” he joked.

“I’m going to keep playing football until I hate it and that could be until I’m 40 or 50. I just want to make a name for myself.”