President Donald Trump has named Andrew Giuliani, the son of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, as executive director of the 2026 men’s World Cup task force.
FIFA advisor and former United States Soccer Federation president Carlos Cordeiro has also been announced as a senior advisor to the task force.
In a post on the social media platform Truth Social, President Trump wrote: “I know Andrew and Carlos will work tirelessly to make the 2026 FIFA World Cup an unprecedented success.”
In March, Trump signed an executive order alongside Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, world football’s governing body, establishing the task force for the 2026 World Cup.
The White House said the task force — which will be chaired by Trump — will oversee preparations for the Club World Cup, which is being hosted in the U.S. this summer, as well as the World Cup, which will take place in the U.S., Mexico and Canada next year.
Carlos Cordeiro joins the task force as a senior advisor. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
Vice President JD Vance will act as vice chair, while executive director Giuliani will oversee day-to-day operations.
Giuliani, 39, served as associate director to the Office of Public Liaison and special assistant to the president during Trump’s first term. The former professional golfer then unsuccessfully ran for governor of New York in 2022.
Cordeiro, 69, served as USSF president between 2018 and 2020, when he resigned after taking responsibility for the federation’s decision to criticize the U.S. women’s national team in a legal filing that was widely denounced for being misogynistic.
The 2026 World Cup is scheduled to run from June 11 to July 19, with the final set be held at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
Who are Giuliani and Cordeiro and what do their appointments mean?
During Tuesday’s inaugural meeting of the task force at the White House, President Trump talked up Giuliani’s credentials.
“He’s gonna be great,” Trump said. “I’ve known him for a long time. He’s a highly competitive golfer, by which I mean, really good.”
In Trumpland, this is not faint praise. Giuliani played at Duke University and later turned pro. In 2009, at the age of 23, he won the Metropolitan Open, closing with an even-par 71 and earning $27,500. That win, however, was about as good as it got. He later ventured into politics, following in the footsteps of his father Rudy, the former mayor of New York City and also a former attorney for President Trump.
Giuliani Jr.’s qualification for the role appears to be a stint during Trump’s first term when he served as a special assistant to the president and associate director of the Office of Public Liaison.
According to a profile of Giuliani by The Atlantic in 2019, this role appeared to consist of managing visits by trophy-winning sports teams to the White House, with sources citing an outgoing personality but also implying his father’s relationship with the President may have helped his case in securing the role. The report also described his relationship with the President as being akin to a father figure.
Rudy Giuliani told The Atlantic: “He’s known the president since he was a baby. Now, did he know him in the first place because he was the mayor’s son? Sure, but they also had a relationship independent of me.”
Giuliani ran for governor of New York in 2022 but finished second in the state’s Republican primary.
President Trump and Gianni Infantino launched the World Cup task force in March. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
The White House task force is a curious structure, headed up by Trump and the vice president, and now also assisted by Cordeiro, the former USSF president who grew close to Trump and Infantino during the bid process for the 2026 World Cup, which took place during Trump’s first term.
There are no shortage of challenges ahead of the tournament. Purely on optics, there is the curiosity of an event co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico at a time when the president has sought to impose tariffs on his neighbors and made repeated suggestions about making Canada America’s 51st state.
The Athletic has also reported in recent months about concerns within the U.S. government about the ability of the state — amid departmental cuts and a clampdown on immigration — to process visas for the millions of fans FIFA expects to attend the World Cup and Club World Cup, and to drive, they say, $47 billion in economic impact for the United States.
Vice President Vance said on Tuesday: “I know we’ll have visitors probably from close to 100 countries. We want them to come, we want them to celebrate, we want them to watch the game. But when the time is up, they’ll have to go home, otherwise they’ll have to talk to Secretary (of Homeland Security Kristi) Noem.”
There are additional attempts being made by the U.S. host cities, along with FIFA, U.S. Soccer and dozens of Congressmen, to secure $625 million worth of federal funding to assist with the security costs of the World Cup and keep players, fans and the general public safe during the tournament.
The Athletic asked FIFA if it had any input in the hiring of Giuliani, but FIFA did not respond at the time of publication.
(Top photo: Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)