"This will be the biggest, the most inclusive, the greatest FIFA World Cup ever." Gianni Infantino said that weeks before the 2026 tournament kicks off on June 11 — and for once, the numbers back up the boast. 48 teams. 104 matches. Three host nations. No World Cup has looked anything like this before.
So who is the man orchestrating it?
Infantino, 56, took over FIFA's presidency in 2016 — right after the federation was gutted by one of the most embarrassing corruption scandals in sports history. Bribery, fraud, money laundering, racketeering. His predecessor Sepp Blatter resigned in disgrace. Infantino stepped in, and has since been reelected without opposition in both 2019 and 2023.
The architect of expansion
Born in Switzerland to Italian parents, trained as a lawyer, and forged in the politics of UEFA before arriving at FIFA — Infantino speaks seven languages and has shown a consistent appetite for scale. He expanded the men's and women's World Cups to 48 teams each. He turned the Club World Cup into a 32-team competition. He ended FIFA's long partnership with EA Sports, pulling the FIFA name from the world's most popular football video game. He switched the official trading card deal from Panini to Topps.
These aren't just administrative footnotes. They're billion-dollar decisions that reshape how football is consumed globally. The 2026 World Cup alone is a financial event of enormous consequence — and with the US co-hosting, the commercial machine behind it is running at full power.
The controversies aren't going away
None of this comes without baggage. Infantino received the Order of Friendship from Vladimir Putin following the 2018 World Cup in Russia. The 2022 tournament in Qatar was awarded before he took office, but he presided over it — a competition shadowed by reports of migrant worker exploitation and Qatar's record on women's and LGBTQ+ rights. The 2034 World Cup goes to Saudi Arabia, a country facing near-identical criticisms.
Infantino also travels by private jet, maintains well-documented closeness with authoritarian leaders, and the pay gap between FIFA's men's and women's tournaments remains a live and legitimate grievance.
Then there's Donald Trump. Infantino visits the Oval Office regularly, appeared alongside Trump at events globally, and in December handed him the first-ever FIFA Peace Prize — praising the US president for handling "world conflicts" in an "incredible way." FIFA will also participate in celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of the United States at two World Cup matches on July 4.
- 2026 World Cup: 48 teams, 104 matches across USA, Canada and Mexico
- Infantino joined the International Olympic Committee in 2020
- Inter Milan fan, married to Leena Al Ashqar, four daughters
- FIFA ended its EA Sports partnership under his watch — the game is no longer called FIFA
- 2034 World Cup awarded to Saudi Arabia
"FIFA's key mission is to truly globalise, popularise and democratise football for the benefit of the entire world," the federation wrote in 2020. Whether Infantino's version of that mission matches the rhetoric is a debate that won't be settled by a tournament — no matter how many matches it contains.
