President of the United States sets up task force during White House meeting with the FIFA President
The task force will oversee preparations for the FIFA Club World Cup 2025™ and FIFA World Cup 26™
The two tournaments are anticipated to have an economic impact in the region of USD 40 billion with 200,000 jobs created
FIFA President Gianni Infantino, in a visit to The White House in Washington DC, has met the President of the United States Donald Trump and thanked him for setting a special task force to oversee preparations for the FIFA Club World Cup 2025™ and the FIFA World Cup 26™, saying it reaffirms the American government’s commitment to hosting the two events.
During the meeting, President Trump signed the executive order to create the task force, which he will head himself and will coordinate with federal agencies to plan and execute the hosting of the tournaments which will change the face of world football.
The FIFA President also presented Mr Trump the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 trophy, a jewel that represents the pinnacle of global club football which will be presented to the official FIFA club world champions on Sunday, 13 July in New York New Jersey.
The FIFA World Cup 26, to be co-hosted with Canada and Mexico from 11 June to 19 July 2026, will be the biggest and most inclusive in the tournament’s history, with 48 teams playing 104 matches across 16 cities, which Mr Infantino compared to staging “three Super Bowls a day” for one month.
Mr Infantino said that the two tournaments were set to have a total economic impact in the region of USD 40 billion with 200,000 jobs created, for a tournament that will welcome over 10 million people.
“America will welcome the world. There will be millions of people coming, Mr President – millions of people,” Mr Infantino said. “And, more than that, we will give joy and happiness to the entire world. And this is priceless, definitely. So, thank you, Mr President for setting up this task force because it is important that everyone that comes to America feels safe, feels welcome, and that’s why it’s important that the government puts together this White House task force, chaired by the President (of the United States) himself.”
The FIFA President added: “We are here to create and to make the best show on the planet ever. And we’ll do it together, Mr President.”
President Trump said it was an honour for the US to host the tournaments and that he intended to attend matches. “I would like to go to, certainly, more than one. We’ll be making the rounds; it’s a period of a month and it’s really top-of-the-line. It’s one of the great events of anywhere in the world,” he said.
He added: “I love what you said, ‘(it’s) like three Super Bowls a day for a month’, that’s what it is.”
In January 2025, Mr Trump welcomed the FIFA President to his residence in Florida where they discussed the hosting of the two tournaments. Gianni Infantino also visited the White House during Mr Trump’s first presidency and was present at his inauguration as the 47th President in Washington DC on 20 January 2025.