By the time much of America awoke to Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election on Wednesday, the president-elect had already received an enthusiastic message from his most powerful admirer in sports.
“Congratulations Mr President!” FIFA president Gianni Infantino wrote in an Instagram post replete with emoji. “We will have a great FIFA World Cup and a great FIFA Club World Cup in the United States of America!”
Infantino concluded by tagging Trump, a man he has known since at least 2018 — and now, a man whose favor he’ll need to curry.
He also sounded pleased — perhaps, soccer insiders speculated, because he is. Trump’s autocratic governance, three insiders told Yahoo Sports, could help FIFA plan the 2026 men’s World Cup, which the United States will co-host alongside Mexico and Canada. One cited a famous 2013 line from Jérôme Valcke, FIFA’s then-general secretary, that has rung true throughout a messy 2026 planning process: “Less democracy is sometimes better for organizing a World Cup.”
In conversations and messages over the past two weeks, before and after the election, other officials involved in World Cup preparations cautioned that the implications of a Trump presidency were and are unclear. “It’s too early to tell,” one observer said.
Some noted that Trump’s isolationist policies, his anti-immigrant rhetoric, his volatility and his divisiveness were wild cards, and could complicate an event that purports to “unite the world.”
But they were all certain that Trump will embrace the World Cup — and, two summers later, the 2028 Olympics. Many can already envision him alongside Infantino, à la Vladimir Putin at Russia 2018, front and center as the U.S. puts on an unparalleled show. “Trump obviously is gonna lean in,” one insider said. “He’s gonna love the politics of it.”
And so, in return, his administration will surely lean into the organization of the tournament — once they have the bandwidth for it.
Trump’s influence on FIFA’s operations
World Cups require planning. Layers and layers of planning. FIFA, soccer’s global governing body, owns and operates the event, but has long relied on local entities to shoulder expenses and logistical loads. In Russia, for example, Putin’s government and the Russian Football Union jointly established a central organizing committee. Qatar formed the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy, which partnered with FIFA. In North America, an expanding FIFA has been more hands-on, but it still commands the cooperation of “host committees” in each host city. Those committees, in turn, have been working with their governments — local, state and federal — to secure funding and operational support. And that, of course, is where the U.S. president comes in.
FIFA and the host committees have spent years cultivating relationships within Congress and the Joe Biden administration. They’ve lobbied for federal assistance, particularly with security. FIFA even hired a head of government relations, Alex Sopko, straight from Biden’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.
Now, they’ll all have to build new relationships. Although some lower-level agency staffers will remain, Trump will appoint an entirely new cabinet and deputies. The change of administration, according to three people familiar with the World Cup process, could exacerbate organizational delays. It could interrupt or distract from ongoing conversations around security and visas.
“A [Kamala] Harris administration was more likely to be able to hit the ground running and build on what the current administration was already pursuing to prepare for the World Cup,” one person familiar with the efforts told Yahoo Sports via email. “The incoming Trump administration will have a lot on its plate, many competing priorities, a disproportionate amount of focus on the southern border and border enforcement. Accordingly, my hunch is that it’s going to be a bit harder to get their attention in the early days. World Cup preparation is likely to take a back seat at the outset.”
The counterargument, though, is that once the World Cup does come into focus, Trump and his advisers will be more willing to flaunt convention, cut through bureaucracy, and give Infantino what he wants.
Rather than funneling FIFA through a complex web of departments, including Homeland Security and State, Trump, “if he decides this is something he wants to ensure is a success,” could “streamline” the World Cup process, said Travis Murphy, a former State Department officer and now the CEO of Jetr Global Sports + Entertainment.
This, after all, is how Infantino likes to operate. He has cozied up to dictators, such as Putin and Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman. He is accustomed to dealing with singular, powerful figures — such as the president of a national soccer federation, or a sports minister, or even a head of state — to get things done.
And that, in 2018, is what led him to Trump. Soon after FIFA’s members selected North America to host the 2026 tournament, Infantino scored a meeting in the Oval Office. He presented Trump with gifts, and formed a chummy relationship. A few meetings later, at the 2020 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Infantino heaped praise on Trump, who in turn lauded Infantino as a “great friend.”
Four years later, this past May, they again communed at a Formula 1 race in Miami. In the interim, on the other hand, Infantino never managed to score a White House meeting with Biden. FIFA was forced to navigate the bureaucracy. The lack of a centralized sports ministry or World Cup-focused entity became a pain point, according to people familiar with the planning. Some, sensing FIFA’s surprise and frustration, have joked that “FIFA forgot how democracy worked.”
All of which is why Trump’s election this week is seen by some as a positive for FIFA, or at least for Infantino. Two sources speculated that Infantino, who’s now based in South Florida, could push for a meeting during the presidential transition at Mar-a-Lago, the Palm Beach resort where Trump lives.
Immigration and visa concerns for World Cup fans
Others expressed concerns related to policy. Trump, in addition to promising the “largest deportation operation in American history,” has repeatedly called for a crackdown on immigration. He has said he’ll enact a “travel ban” that’s “even bigger than before and much stronger than before,” a reference to his first administration’s heavy restrictions on travel from several predominantly Muslim countries.
Such a ban might compound worries that thousands of World Cup fans won’t be allowed to enter the United States. Consular officers already deny around 24% of applicants for B1/B2 visitor visas, according to 2023 State Department data. And some applicants must wait more than a year simply to get an interview.
Under Trump, “I don’t see this getting easier,” Murphy said. “There’s just not a good way, and a limited amount of time, to differentiate between the millions of people who are applying for a visa to come into the United States — for business reasons, for visiting family, or for the purposes of staying long term — and people who are just coming for the [World Cup].
“I have to assume,” he continued, “that wait times will go up, that immigration restrictions will be tightened. And as such, the fans — that could continue to be an issue.”
Others believe, however, that any negative impact will be counterbalanced by Trump’s willingness to grant FIFA preferential treatment. In 2018, during the bidding phase, Trump sent three letters to Infantino. The third, as reported by The New York Times, promised an “open and festive” World Cup, “and that all eligible athletes, officials and fans from all countries around the world would be able to enter the United States without discrimination.”
A few months later, Infantino told reporters in Washington that he was “not concerned or worried at all there would be any issue with any team or fans from any country. Iran will [probably] qualify. If they qualify, they will play, and their fans will be welcome.”
