FIFA has spent roughly $4 million to lease office space inside Trump Tower in New York City, and the 17th-floor suite mostly sits empty with no current staffing plans. The arrangement, signed about a year before the 2026 World Cup, has become a flashpoint over soccer's governing body cozying up to a building that bears the name of the sitting American president.
According to The New York Times, FIFA signed a more than seven-year lease worth about $4 million, and sources told the paper the suite mostly sits empty. The deal came together as FIFA and its president, Gianni Infantino, sought closer ties to President Trump ahead of the World Cup, the Times reports. Most FIFA employees in the Americas actually work out of two offices in Miami, according to The Independent, which first detailed the Times findings for its own readers.
Per French outlet Le Monde, FIFA agreed in 2025 to pay nearly $4 million over seven years and seven months for the roughly 450-square-meter (nearly 5,000-square-foot) office on the tower's 17th floor. The outlet reports the office began operating on June 1, 2025, and has been mostly unoccupied since. FIFA Americas, the organization's Delaware-based subsidiary, agreed to pay the rent to Trump Tower Commercial LLC starting that June — a company Le Monde reports is chaired by Eric Trump, the president's son, who owns and manages the premises.
Who Signed Off On The Deal
Le Monde's reporting indicates the lease was signed by four members of FIFA's executive board in May 2025, including the signature of Secretary General Mattias Grafström. Two sources told the Times that Infantino led the decision to open the Trump Tower office. The Independent's reporting, authored by Isabel Keane, notes that some senior FIFA leaders expressed concern over the lease's high rent, its ties to Donald Trump, and an unclear business need — concerns the Times similarly describes as having raised worries among senior FIFA officials about renting in a high-tax building with no clear purpose.
FIFA defended the arrangement to the Times, saying the lease was signed according to its standard internal process. A FIFA spokesperson said having a presence in New York is logical for a global organization, per the Independent's account. The office is used mostly for special events and during the United Nations General Assembly, according to that reporting, while FIFA did not specify which staff or departments would be based there, as The Guardian reported when the office was announced. The New York location joined FIFA's existing Miami office, which opened in 2024 and houses the organization's legal division along with staff working on the Club World Cup and World Cup, the Guardian noted, and FIFA also maintains a significant presence in Toronto.
A Relationship Years In The Making
Trump and Infantino's relationship dates back to 2018, and the two grew closer during Trump's second term as the 2026 World Cup approached, per the Independent's reporting. Infantino attended Trump's 2025 inauguration and later presented the FIFA peace prize — a prize Infantino created in Trump's honor, according to the Times — to the president in December 2025. Infantino also attended a meeting of Trump's Board of Peace earlier this year, the Independent reports.
The Guardian notes the office opening continued efforts by FIFA and Infantino to appear publicly close to the U.S. president, with Infantino appearing alongside Trump at several events, including an Oval Office announcement of a World Cup task force. Uefa accused Infantino of putting private political interests ahead of his FIFA duties after he accompanied Trump to the Middle East and arrived late to FIFA's congress in Paraguay, the Guardian reported. The Times also reports that FIFA rescinded a suspension against U.S. player Folarin Balogun after a call between Trump and Infantino, prompting accusations of bias and political interference; the Independent's reporting adds that Trump has said he personally called Infantino after Balogun received a red card during the tournament, and Balogun was allowed to continue playing.
Criticism From Former Officials And Lawmakers
Miguel Maduro, a former FIFA governance head, said the lease may represent a conflict of interest, according to the Independent. Alex Phillips, a former FIFA official, called the office a completely unnecessary level of pandering, per that same reporting. Norway's soccer federation has filed an ethics complaint accusing Infantino of possible abuse of power and conflict of interest, the Independent reports, and Infantino's World Cup conduct — along with a plan to sell stakes in the World Cup and other competitions — has faced fierce criticism.
FIFA also credited Trump with a pivotal role in promoting peace between Israel and Palestine in a press release, the Independent reports, even as María Corina Machado won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize. The organization separately confirmed plans to build an academy and a 20,000-seat stadium in Gaza, according to that same reporting. The White House declined to comment to the Times on its findings, and the newspaper's report placed the office within a longer pattern: Infantino has spent a decade opening FIFA offices worldwide, including an expensive Paris operation he has already begun winding down, while the organization relied on a single Zurich headquarters for most of its 121-year history, per The Athletic. That outlet also notes Trump Tower's earlier connection to FIFA history: it once housed Chuck Blazer, the government informant whose testimony helped bring down Infantino's predecessor, Sepp Blatter, a decade ago.
Congressional Scrutiny Builds
The lease has also drawn attention on Capitol Hill. The House Judiciary Committee requested documents and communications relating to gifts, including FIFA's Trump Tower lease, and asked Infantino to sit for a transcribed interview. Rep. Jamie Raskin said he was launching an investigation into what he described as mounting evidence of corruption and a potential quid pro quo between FIFA and the Trump administration — allegations laid out in the committee's own statement rather than an established legal finding.
