FIFA opened an office in the Trump Tower in New York. The move into the building deepens relationships with the US President – and reminds of FIFA past years.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino revealed on Monday (08.07.2025) with Eric Trump, one of the sons of US President Donald Trump, the trophy of the club World Cup in the lobby of the Trump TowersThe trophy should be exhibited there until the final. “You have to be present everywhere”said Infantino. “As far as the location of our offices is concerned, we have to be present in New York. That is why we open up an office of FIFA here in the Trump Tower.”
FIFA President Gianni Infantino (left) with Eric Trump in Trump Tower
FIFA maintains numerous offices worldwide. In addition to the headquarters in Zurich, there are, for example, branch offices in New Zealand, Malaysia, India, Rwanda or Panama. The department for law and Compliance is already in a large office in the USA, in Miami. However, the new domicile in the Trump Tower has a symbolic character in several ways.
“Of course also a thank you to President Trump”
The move into the building illustrates the close relationship between Infantino and the Trump family. The FIFA president has been meeting with the US President for months, sometimes accompanied him on state visits. The relationship must be good to ensure the smooth running of the 2025 club World Cup and the 2026 World Cup, said Infantino a few months ago.
Infantino said at the opening of the office at the 5th Avenue in Manhattan: “Thank you very much, Eric (Trump), many thanks to everyone. Of course also a thank you to President Trump, who is a big football fan, and to the whole family.” The support for the tournaments is great and contributed to it “That the FIFA club World Cup has so far been such an incredible success”.
Trump and Infantino with the cup of the club World Cup
The approach of the Trump government against migrants, however, is often in contrast to the values sometimes propagated by FIFA. In addition, there is already an exciting question for the 2026 World Cup, which will take place in the USA, Canada and Mexico: What effects will the ban on entering the USA against people from Iran, where Iran is qualified for the World Cup? So far, only athletes and trainers have been excluded from the ban on entry, not fans.
Corrupt FIFA official lived in the Trump Tower
The FIFA in the Trump Tower is also not entirely new. For a long time, one of the most corrupt officials in the building resided here with the Chuck Blazer, who died in 2017. Blazer, top name “Mister ten percent”, lived in an apartment in the Trump Tower and rented another apartment for $ 6,000 a month in which his cats lived.
FIFA official Chuck Blazer before the 2006 World Cup in Cologne
Back then, Blazer was President of Concacaf, the association comparable to the UEFA for North America, Central America and the Caribbean. At the same time, he was sitting in the scandalumed FIFA Executive Committee. Blazer himself admitted that he had accepted payments from South Africa in connection with the 2010 World Cup award.
Blazer contributed as a key witness to bring the FIFA scandal to the corrupt system of FIFA in 2015. Numerous officials were accused and convicted. One of them was Brazil’s former association president José Maria Marin, who was temporarily under house arrest in the United States because of the scandal – in his luxury apartment in the Trump Tower.
Brazil’s former association president José Maria Marin