Fifa opens office in Trump Tower, deepening ties with US president

Fifa’s relationship with the US president, Donald Trump, now has a ­physically tangible marker, with soccer’s world governing body announcing that it has opened an office in Trump Tower in New York City.

The announcement of the new office came on Monday evening, after Fifa placed the Club World Cup trophy on display in the lobby of the skyscraper on the south-west corner of Central Park in an event attended by several Fifa dignitaries ­including its president, Gianni Infantino and the Brazilian great Ronaldo as well as Eric Trump, the son of the US ­president and executive vice-president of the Trump Organization.

“Fifa [is] a global organisation [and] to be global, you have to be local, you have to be everywhere, so we have to be in New York,” Infantino said. “Not just for the Fifa Club World Cup this year and the Fifa World Cup next year – we have to be in New York as well when it comes to where our offices are based. Thank you, Eric [Trump], thank you to ­everyone. Thanks, of course, to president Trump as well.”

Fifa did not provide specifics on which staff or departments would be housed in the New York. It is now a tenant of the company owned by the sitting US president with the start of its biggest and most lucrative ­tournament next June.

It follows Fifa opening in 2024 of an office in Miami, Florida, which houses the organization’s legal ­division and some staff responsible for putting on the Club World Cup and next year’s World Cup. Some staff from Fifa’s global headquarters in Zurich were relocated to the United States to work in Miami.

“On behalf of myself, on behalf of New York, on behalf of the Trump Organization and everybody that works in this building – we love you,” Eric Trump said in remarks at the event. “We’re honoured, we’re excited about all the things that Fifa is doing.”

The office opening continues Fifa’s and Infantino’s efforts to appear ­publicly close to the US president, with Infantino describing his ­relationship with Trump as ­“absolutely crucial” in a meeting with the ­International Football Association Board (Ifab) in February.

Infantino has since appeared with the US president at several public events, including at the Oval Office when announcing the creation of a World Cup taskforce. In that meeting, Infantino presented Trump with the Club World Cup trophy, which has continued to be on display in the Oval Office for all of the president’s scheduled events in the space. Infantino was later present at the first public meeting of the World Cup taskforce, at which he was seated alongside Trump with the vice-president, JD Vance.

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Infantino also accompanied Trump to the Middle East this year – a trip that made him late for the Fifa congress in Paraguay, angering Fifa delegates who walked out in protest. Uefa later accused Infantino of putting “private political interests” ahead of his Fifa responsibilities, and Human Rights Watch demanded that Infantino reveal the specific purpose and details of his trip, which he has yet to do.

“As president of Fifa my responsibility is to make decisions in the interests of the organisation,” Infantino said at the congress, where he apologized for his tardiness. “I felt that I needed to be there to represent football and all of you.”

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