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US President Donald Trump has come out in support of embattled FIFA President Gianni Infantino, but in doing so he has entirely missed the central issue.

Trump said it would be a 'terrible mistake' to remove Infantino as FIFA President at a time when the Swiss official is facing growing calls to step down.

But the US President’s intervention has, unintentionally, highlighted the very reason behind the widening split that is threatening the fabric of world football.

Infantino is now facing the biggest test of his presidency. For millions of fans around the world, the Swiss administrator has for years come to represent corporate greed.

He has been labelled a 'megalomaniac' by prominent newspaper columnists and portrayed as someone fixated on endlessly enlarging tournaments, weakening competition, and maximising commercial returns, making him deeply unpopular.

All of this, critics argue, has also come at the cost of match-going supporters and footballing tradition.

That fan anger has now spread into the highest levels of the game after a joint open letter was published and signed by the presidents of UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and Concacaf.

Those confederations accused FIFA’s leadership of a 'failure of judgment' and a 'fundamental breach of trust' after Infantino tried to force through a proposal to sell commercial stakes in the World Cup and other FIFA competitions to investors on a shortened timetable, something many believed was designed to reduce scrutiny.

With three of football’s six continental governing bodies calling for an independent investigation and declining to support Infantino, Trump took to social media to back the FIFA chief.

"Fifa would be making a terrible mistake if, for any reason, they even considered replacing president Gianni Infantino," Trump said.

"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’s use of the word 'profitable' in relation to the World Cup misses the point entirely. For politicians and corporate boardrooms, the tournament may be viewed as little more than a commercial asset. But for the billions who watched this summer’s competition, profit margins matter very little.

The World Cup is treasured because it is a festival of football that belongs to everyone. It is a worldwide celebration of passion, national identity, emotion and sporting endeavour.

When those in power reduce the greatest spectacle in sport to money alone, they reveal how little they understand the soul of the game.