George Orwell’s Animal Farm ends with one of literature’s most unsettling images: the pigs become indistinguishable from the humans they once overthrew. Power does not merely change hands; it changes those who hold it.

The latest reports surrounding FIFA suggest a similar drift.

Gianni Infantino’s plan to spin FIFA’s commercial operations — broadcast rights, sponsorships, tickets, licensing — into a new entity, FIFA Forward Enterprise, and sell roughly a fifth of it to private investors at a reported $20 billion valuation, is more than another corporate transaction. That the investor group is led by Joshua Kushner, brother of Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and that the plan reportedly emerged from private talks between Infantino and Kushner last year, gives the deal its unmistakable shape: the world’s most popular sporting institution treated not as a public trust, but as an asset to be traded among those already close to power.

Football has always been bigger than balance sheets. World Cups are built on the passion of supporters, the dreams of players, and decades of collective investment by nations and communities. Yet when ownership, influence, and political proximity begin to outweigh stewardship, sport slowly ceases to belong to its fans.

That is the symbolism behind this illustration.

The pig is no ordinary pig. Its body resembles a piggy bank — a reminder that the institution has become something to be monetised. It walks happily on a golden chain, clutching a golden football with almost childlike delight, while looking admiringly toward the man holding the leash. The chain itself is the message. What appears to be partnership increasingly resembles dependence. FIFA was entrusted with protecting the game; its presidency was meant to serve football, not cultivate political patronage or commercial favour.

Power rarely announces its corruption with dramatic gestures. More often, it arrives disguised as investment, efficiency, or strategic partnership. By the time the leash becomes visible, those wearing the collar may already believe they are walking freely.

Sometimes, the most revealing image in football is not the ball — but who is holding the leash.

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