LOS ANGELES, Dec 4 — When FIFA president Gianni Infantino first paid a visit to Donald Trump at the White House in 2018, he won over the US president with a gift: an oversized red card, which he jokingly suggested Trump could brandish “whenever you want to kick someone out.”

Trump, delighted, wasted no time in flashing the card to the assembled press corps - a gesture that neatly captured his often combative relationship with the media.

What seemed a playful exchange between the head of world football and the US leader would prove to be the opening act in one of the most contentious alliances in sport.

On Friday, Trump and Infantino’s burgeoning bromance will be back on display when they take centre stage at the draw for the 2026 World Cup in Washington.

Infantino has been a regular visitor to the Oval Office since that first visit seven years ago, invariably praising Trump’s leadership as next year’s World Cup, co-hosted with Canada and Mexico, looms ever closer.

At a 2020 dinner in Davos during the World Economic Forum, Infantino described Trump as “definitely a sportsman,” comparing the US leader’s character to that of elite athletes.

“I am lucky enough in my life to come across some of the most talented athletes in soccer. And President Trump is made of the same sort of fiber,” Infantino said.