FIFA president Gianni Infantino visits Philadelphia for the first time, and likes what he sees

FIFA president Gianni Infantino made his first visit to Philadelphia on Thursday, and he came prepared.

“Go Birds,” the leader of the world’s biggest sport said in a stop at Lincoln Financial Field to promote the Club World Cup, which the stadium will host this summer.

“I’m told everyone is a Birds fan, I understand, here,” Infantino added, having previously gotten a taste when he attended the Eagles’ Super Bowl triumph in February. He was close enough at the event, which was open for Eagles season ticket-holders to take pictures with the Club World Cup and Super Bowl trophies.

“Everything started in Philadelphia, right? Almost 250 years ago,” Infantino said, knowing the city will host a Club World Cup quarterfinal on July 4 this year and a men’s World Cup Round of 16 game on the nation’s birthday next year.

“A great sports city, great soccer city as well,” he continued. “It was important for us to be here. Fantastic stadium, fantastic sports venue. We are sure that the tens of thousands of fans coming to this city to cheer for their teams, for their clubs, well, they will spend a fantastic time.”

» READ MORE: Manchester City, Real Madrid, Chelsea and Juventus will play here in the Club World Cup

Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown was among the dignitaries, along with Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and various team executives. FIFA’s traveling party included former U.S. women’s soccer team coach Jill Ellis and former French national team player Youri Djorkaeff.

Both are past World Cup champions and have histories in Philadelphia. Ellis brought the team here many times in her tenure, including a 2019 World Cup title celebration that drew over 49,000 fans to the Linc. Djorkaeff’s son, Sacha, attended Penn a decade ago.

For all the glamour of the big European and South American teams that will come to American shores this summer, the Club World Cup hasn’t yet been seen as a big deal. FIFA has implicitly acknowledged that by taking Infantino on a publicity tour of the tournament’s 11 host cities. He said it out loud here as he spoke in front of the trophy.

» READ MORE: FIFA plans to donate $1 million to grow grassroots soccer in Philadelphia

“If in America you fill soccer stadiums for friendly games, then you know when you come with a World Cup, with the best players, who play, really, to win a competition, for sure, it will be full,” he said. “We have to promote it, as everyone [does]. We have to present it, we have to explain it to the people — that’s what we are doing. But it will be a celebration of soccer, and the stadiums will be full, and fans will be coming from all over the world.”

And as he said at another point, in Spanish and English: “Buy tickets. There are still a few available.”

Later in the day, Infantino met with Parker and City Council at City Hall. Then he visited Lemon Hill to see the site that will host the fan fest in 2026, accompanied by city and local World Cup organizing committee officials.

“We will have a lot of fun this summer, next summer, in Philadelphia, but we are here to stay,” he said at an event in the park. “We are here to grow soccer, to grow the game, to make everyone in America fall in love with the beautiful game, as we call it. Because if the entire world fell in love with it, there is no reason why America wouldn’t.”

» READ MORE: Looking to get your hands on World Cup 2026 tickets in Philly? FIFA has a new ticket package to consider

Meg Kane, the host city executive on Philadelphia’s local organizing committee, was one of the day’s tour guides.

“I think that we’ve done a great job of sharing the authenticity and the passion that Philadelphia has for hosting the FIFA World Cup with President Infantino,” she said. “I would also say that I think he, for a first-time visitor to Philadelphia, has felt how great the city is, and how ready we are to host both the Club World Cup in ‘25 and the FIFA World Cup in ‘26. And I hope that this is his first of many visits.”

Infantino knows as well as anyone that it’s impossible to separate international soccer from international politics. FIFA is facing big questions right now about how fans coming to the U.S. from abroad will be able to enter and travel across the country — plus to cohosts Canada and Mexico next year — and what visas will be required.

At times in the past, buying a game ticket from abroad has come with a visa or an easy way to get one. There have been few details about how things will work for the Club World Cup and next year’s men’s World Cup, and FIFA knows there isn’t much time left to find solutions.

Infantino is close with President Donald Trump, making regular visits to the White House, and on Wednesday he hosted Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI director Kash Patel at FIFA’s North American headquarters in Miami. Will those connections help smooth a path for traveling fans?

» READ MORE: Philadelphia needs money for World Cup security. Host cities will look to the Trump administration for help.

“We have excellent relations with President Trump, with the Trump administration,” Infantino said, adding that Bondi and Patel’s help underlines “the collaboration that exists between FIFA and the United States of America government. It is absolutely crucial that we have this collaboration.”

He gave a reminder of “guarantees that the United States government has signed at the time of the bidding,” which was during Trump’s first term; and claimed the administration “has reconfirmed, of course, now, the world will be welcomed in the United States of America this summer for the Club World Cup, next summer for the World Cup.”

But Infantino acknowledged the scale of what is required, not just for millions of ticket-holding fans but for millions more who will come without tickets. They’ll just want to be in the World Cup’s host country, especially next year for the global sporting event: 48 teams, 16 host cities, and 104 games over 39 days.

“There are discussions ongoing, of course,” Infantino said. “This creates, of course, a certain number of challenges that need to be addressed. And we are working very, very hard, and I would like to thank the attorney general, the director of the FBI, the government, President Trump, everyone, for their engagement.”

» READ MORE: Philadelphia unveils its official 2026 World Cup poster, with help from the Flower Show

Last month, Trump signed an executive order creating a World Cup task force, funded by the Department of Homeland Security, with himself as chair and Vice President JD Vance as vice chair. Several federal agency heads and deputies will be involved, plus an executive director who has not yet been hired.

Infantino noted the task force and the scale of its work ahead.

“I’ve been organizing events my whole life, and what we see here is special,” he said, referring to his many years as an executive at Europe’s soccer confederation before becoming FIFA’s president in 2016. “But it has to be special, because what we want to do here is to organize the greatest World Cup ever. Which is not just a sports event, it’s just the greatest event that the world has ever seen.”