GENEVA (AP) — FIFA President Gianni Infantino will go to Saudi Arabia next week during U.S. President Donald Trump’s state visit while the soccer body’s 211 member federations gather at their annual Congress being held in Paraguay.
It is unprecedented in modern times for a FIFA president to skip any part of the days-long congress program, where FIFA voters in soccer’s six continental bodies caucus ahead of the main meeting often called the sport’s parliament.
“The FIFA president has accepted invitations to attend a series of important events with world leaders, where FIFA World Cups will also be discussed,” soccer’s governing body said in a statement.
Infantino also is expected to visit Qatar, the 2022 World Cup host which also is on the U.S. president’s Middle East tour schedule.
Infantino’s close ties to Trump during the president’s first term have grown stronger in about 10 meetings together since December, including Tuesday at the White House with a task force to oversee federal plans for the 2026 World Cup being co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The FIFA leader also meets regularly with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, whose kingdom will host the men’s World Cup in 2034. Infantino helped steer those hosting rights to Saudi Arabia in an uncontested vote last December.
Infantino is expected to return from the Middle East in time for the FIFA Congress on Thursday, the last meeting of all FIFA members before they come to the 2026 World Cup. It also is their first meeting together since before the online votes six months ago that confirmed the Saudi bid for 2034 and sent the 2030 edition to Spain, Portugal and Morocco plus single games in Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay.
He had been due Tuesday in the Paraguayan capital Asuncion to chair an in-person meeting of FIFA’s ruling council.
It is now moved up four days for an online session Friday that clears Infantino’s schedule for the kind of geopolitical trip he has seemed to relish detailing on his Instagram account.
Infantino and FIFA have consistently said he needs to maintain good relations with the Trump administration to ensure the 48-team, six-week tournament is safe and successful. FIFA voters chose the North American bid in 2018 when it was backed by then-President Trump.
However, there were no formal meetings for Infantino with President Joe Biden during his four-year term that ended in January. They did pose for a photograph together in 2022 at a G20 meeting in Bali, Indonesia.
Infantino has forged close political and financial ties for FIFA with Saudi Arabia and its crown prince since before the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
In Riyadh on Tuesday, when FIFA delegates are in Paraguay, Infantino is expected to attend a Saudi-U.S. investment forum where World Cup projects are on the agenda.
Saudi Arabia is spending hundreds of billions of dollars on stadiums plus huge city and transport upgrades ahead of the tournament.
Infantino attended a similar conference in Miami Beach in February, when he sat with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, Elon Musk and Saudi officials. They included the kingdom’s ambassador to the U.S., Princess Reema Bandar Al-Saud and the governor of its sovereign wealth fund, Yasir Al-Rumayyan.
Soccer officials have privately expressed concern about Infantino’s increasing focus on global politics as much as the sport FIFA runs.
European soccer body UEFA said Thursday “we were informed about the (Council) meeting being rescheduled” to this week.
“However, we prefer not to comment on the reasons and suggest directing any queries to FIFA,” UEFA said.
President Trump is visiting Saudi Arabia plus Qatar and Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, in what was originally planned as the first overseas trip since he took office for a second time in January.
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