President Donald Trump said he was appointing Andrew Giuliani, the son of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, as the director of a presidential task force helping with preparations for the 2026 World Cup.
The task force, established by the president in March, was created to coordinate departments and agencies across the federal government to assist in the organization and execution of both the World Cup and a club tournament being run by FIFA this year.
The World Cup, which is being jointly hosted with Canada and Mexico, is expected to bring a flood of spectators and accompanying security and logistical challenges. Some Democrats have also worried that Trump’s efforts to limit travel from dozens of countries could also complicate the staging of the tournament, though the president has promised that he’ll help facilitate travel and visa access for teams and their supporters.
In Trump’s first term, the younger Giuliani — a former professional golfer who regularly plays with the president — helped to arrange the visits of sports teams to the White House. Trump has also appointed him to the US Holocaust Memorial Council.
Trump, who is holding a World Cup meeting at the White House on Tuesday, also announced that former US Soccer President Carlos Cordeiro would serve as a senior adviser to the panel.
Cordeiro led US soccer during its successful bid for the World Cup, but later resigned after the organization drew condemnation for criticizing the women’s national team in a legal filing. The federation later settled the equal pay lawsuit, agreeing to offer female athletes $24 million and pledging to pay the women’s and men’s teams the same for competitions going forward.
“I know Andrew and Carlos will work tirelessly to make the 2026 FIFA World Cup an unprecedented success,” Trump said in a social media post.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.