He met a very familiar face when President Trump greeted senior officials and business leaders on Tuesday during his state visit to Saudi Arabia: Gianni Infantino, the governing body of football, has been a loyal supporter since Trump's first term.
Trump's close relationship with Swiss Italian football manager Infantino has raised eyebrows in football clubs and other places for many years. Friendship appears to be more than one or more between the leaders of the World Cup Host Nation. The US will co-host the next edition of the upcoming quarterly tournaments with Mexico and Canada in 2026, as well as Head of Global Football.
On Wednesday, Infantino will join Trump in the second round of the Qatar presidential world tour, a thumb-shaped peninsula adjacent to Saudi Arabia, which hosted the 2022 World Cup. The football boss is expected to host a ceremony hosted by the chief of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Althani.
No representatives from Canada and Mexico are expected to exist. Last week at the White House, when tariffs with two US neighbors sparked tensions, Trump joked that Infantino had correctly underestimated his role in the World Cup.
Infantino's trip with Trump this week surprised FIFA members who gathered thousands of miles to Paraguay for the organization's annual assembly. The FIFA board in Paraguay, which was set this week, hastily moved to videoconference, allowing Infantino to travel to the Gulf with a US delegation.
“The president of FIFA has accepted an invitation to participate in a series of important events with world leaders who will also discuss the FIFA World Cup,” FIFA said in a statement. Infantino is currently planning to travel to Paraguay to hold Congress on Thursday.
Infantino has also built a close relationship with the Bay since taking over the scandalous FIFA in 2016. He has committed to cleaning up the organization, but his tenure has further scrutinized how Football did business, particularly after changing rules last year to allow key financial sponsor Saudi Arabia to 2034 financial sponsor Saudi Arabia.
The ceremony in Qatar follows the way Infantino focused on Trump as the pillar of next year's tournament. It's not the first time he's won the Presidential Center Stage.
In 2020, Infantino served as something like a dinner warm-up act hosted by Trump in his first term at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He was in Dubai later that year, Israel and the United Arab Emirates signed an agreement to normalize relationships, a deal mediated by Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
Last year, Infantino took part in the draw of Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump, the Club World Cup, the new club tournament that will be played for the first time in America this summer.
Infantino appeared on stage at Trump's inauguration in January and gave the White House a glamour gold trophy from the Club World Cup.
