Back to the Soccer Newsfeed

Inside Man: How FIFA Guided the World Cup to Saudi Arabia

FIFA’s president, Gianni Infantino, cheered a plan to take soccer’s richest event to the kingdom. He has said little about his years of work to make that happen.

Gianni Infantino, the FIFA president, with Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, at the 2022 World Cup.

Nov. 15, 2023Updated 1:27 p.m. ET

Sign up for Your Places: Global Update. All the latest news for any part of the world you select.

As the world reeled from the coronavirus crisis in the fall of 2020, the president of soccer’s global governing body, Gianni Infantino, headed to Rome for an audience with Italy’s prime minister.