FIFA president Gianni Infantino has congratulated Donald Trump ahead of his return as US President.
Trump has declared victory and looks on course to defeat Democrat rival Kamala Harris.
The 2026 World Cup will be hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico, with the Jules Rimet trophy returning to North America for the first time since 1994.
Infantino met Trump multiple times during his first presidency to discuss the World Cup, as well as talking about opening FIFA headquarters in the USA – which they did in 2023.
‘Congratulations Mr President!’ Infantino wrote on Instagram on Wednesday morning.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has congratulated Donald Trump, who looks on course to win the US election
They met multiple times during Trump’s first presidency to discuss the 2026 World Cup
‘We will have a great FIFA World Cup and a great FIFA Club World Cup in the United States of America! Football Unites the World!’
The 2026 World Cup will be groundbreaking for a new format which has provoked much discussion.
There will be a massive expansion and revamp to the tournament, with 48 teams (up from 32) – the three host nations and 45 qualifiers – playing 104 matches (up from 64), significant increases of around 50 per cent.
That growth means a longer tournament and more and earlier/later matches every day in the US, Canada and Mexico.
The first four tournaments in 1930, 1934, 1938 and 1950 had between 13 and 16 countries competing, rising to 16 from 1954, 24 for Spain 1982 and 32 for France 1998, where it has remained since.
FIFA president Infantino was elected on a pledge to create a 40-team World Cup.
He insisted the £825million extra income and £530m extra profit this move is expected to create will trickle down to grassroots football, rather than lining the pockets of the fat cats at the very top.
‘Increasing the size of teams which can participate will increase the investment in football development, to make sure that the teams can qualify,’ he said.
The Trump administration promised back in 2018 that there would be no discrimination against fans from any country wanting to visit the World Cup.
The USA, Canada, and Mexico will host the 48-team 2026 World Cup with plenty more games
The Central American trio of Canada, Mexico and the United States will host it in summer 2026
His own level of engagement with football or ‘soccer’ is unknown, but he did, rather bewilderingly, help in the Carabao Cup draw in 1991 on the Saint & Greavsie show.
There will be 12 groups of four teams. That necessitates a massive number of extra games (104), rather than the 80 there would have been with 16 groups of three.
The European Club Association did not support the move because of fears of the effect a significantly bigger and longer tournament would have on squeezing domestic fixtures for clubs.
The 2026 tournament is set to continue for 39 days, a week more than in 2010, 2014 and 2018 and 10 days more than in Qatar, which will squeeze domestic campaigns. In 2018, countries had 25 days between the end of the domestic season to prepare for the start of the tournament. For 2026, that period is just 16 days.