May 12 – The announcement last week of the personnel on the White House Task Force on the FIFA World Cup 2026 was dominated by US president Donald Trump and the appointment of Andrew Guiliani, son of Trump’s former lawyer and former Mayor of New York Rudy Guiliani.
Buried underneath the political noise and posturing of the Task Force personnel was the news that FIFA also had a representative on key governmental working group.
Established to work with federal agencies to ensure a successful event and dominated by politicians – Vice President of the United States, JD Vance, Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, and Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffywere all present at the press bash – the Task Force also includes former US Soccer Federation president Carlos Cordeiro.
Since September 2021, Cordeiro, a former partner at Goldman Sachs, has been a senior adviser to FIFA president Gianni Infantino, and influential presence behind the scenes working with cities and stakeholders in the US both for the Club World Cup this summer and next year’s World Cup.
Cordeiro (pictured) will be FIFA’s man on the Task Force, designated as a Special Advisor. In essence he will be the glue between Trump’s government agencies and FIFA’s delivery teams.
“Central to FIFA’s participation in the task force will be Carlos Cordeiro, one of football’s preeminent business and organizational leaders, who was appointed to his current role in September 2021 to advise FIFA on new strategic initiatives to grow the game at all levels,” said FIFA.
With the inaugural expanded 32-team Club World Cup this summer, the expanded 48-team men’s World Cup in 2026, and the plans to expand the Women’s World Cup to 48 teams in the US in 2031, FIFA has invested its core rights on a major scale in the US market.
Cordeiro will bring a practicality to getting things done and will crucially bridge the football world and the US government’s federal organisations.
Trump has made it clear that FIFA’s World Cup is a key event for his administration and his expectations are high.
“I have directed my entire team to do everything within our power to make the (FIFA) World Cup an unprecedented success…It’s going to be very special,” said Trump.
“Together we will ensure that the 2026 (FIFA) World Cup will be the best-run soccer tournament the world has ever seen.”
The Club World Cup and the World Cup tournaments are expected to generate almost $50 billion in economic output for the US and create almost 300,000 jobs.
Cordeiro has a big job both for FIFA and his country in ensuring that the two tournaments seamlessly deliver with as little political friction as possible.
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