FIFA, IOC hold different track records with Trump

GENEVA:

The two biggest events in world sports are coming to America. And if President-elect Donald Trump is not thinking about them yet, organisers of the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Los Angeles Olympics certainly are.

The World Cup and the Summer Games are rare globally shared cultural moments with potential for unifying people. But there are questions around issues like granting visas and providing security that will cross Trump's desk.

And that requires diplomacy.

Soccer body FIFA seems in a better place to resume warm relations with Trump from his first administration compared to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) based on public reactions this week and previous interactions.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino used his Instagram account to congratulate Trump even before the Electoral College win early Wednesday. There has been a public silence from the IOC, though it follows a more formal protocol code.

IOC President Thomas Bach made one visit to the White House in June 2017 that is part of Olympic lore for how badly it went.

"Pray for our world," Bach was heard to say on a cellphone call later that day in Washington D.C.

This summer, at a campaign rally, Trump falsely labelled two female Olympic champion boxers as men and pledged to "keep men out of women's sports".

It's the type of issue that could arise from the Trump administration despite top-tier Olympic sports track and field, swimming and cycling already excluding from women's competitions any athletes who went through male puberty.

The tradition for the head of state of a host nation is to present the trophy at the World Cup final and formally open the Summer Games.

Ceremonial duties for Trump at the World Cup -- which the US is co-hosting with Mexico and Canada -- and LA Olympics -- held after Bach leaves office -- in moments watched by hundreds of millions of viewers worldwide, are in some ways the easy bit.

"My personal view would be that Trump has a very astute appreciation of being on the world stage," Michael Payne, an IOC insider since the 1984 LA Summer Games as a marketing executive and consultant, told The Associated Press.

"The challenge will be the year counting down to the events -- how that doesn't compromise the agenda of everybody turning up," Payne said in a telephone interview.

Asking for and getting permission from the IOC and FIFA to host their sprawling, multibillion-dollar events requires federal government guarantees on security and letting athletes, team officials and fans enter the country.

Trump's first administration was involved in the bid campaigns -- won in 2017 by LA and in 2018 by US soccer officials bidding jointly with Canada and Mexico -- and likely was made aware that FIFA, the IOC and fans see the events as belonging to everyone.

"The World Cup and the Olympics, I was responsible for getting both of them, actually," Trump told Bill Belichick this month on the Let's Go podcast.

During those campaigns, when both American bid teams faced questions about a backlash by global voters against Trump's rhetoric, US soccer and Olympic bid officials noted he wasn't expected to be in office when the sports events opened.

Even Trump, in a meeting with Infantino at the White House in August 2018, didn't factor in the possibility of losing the 2020 election, which opened the door for him to run again four years later and return to office in time for the 2026 World Cup.

"(In) 2026, I won't be here," he said at the time.

Hosting games and races that make the world stop to watch, that create a rare sense of shared global experience, is seen as a privilege. Even when the athletes and teams come from countries that were insulted by President Trump, whose politics include travel bans and deportations.

"That responsibility extends to making people feel welcome and that the visa regime is open," said Piara Powar, executive director of anti-discrimination group Fare that works with FIFA to monitor offensive incidents at World Cup games.

Trump and Bach met once at the White House just over seven years ago. Then, the IOC was moving toward making winners of both 2024 Olympics bid rivals Los Angeles and Paris by bringing 2028 into play.

The meeting did not go well. That was suspected at the time but only confirmed years later in private conversations.

No photos, nor a readout, ever were published of Trump hosting the Olympic delegation that came from Switzerland, Los Angeles and Colorado Springs. The US president was apparently dismissive of Paris and questioned why the IOC wanted the city, which hosted an acclaimed Olympics this year.

Asked why there was no formal acknowledgement of Trump's win this week, the IOC cited its tradition of neutrality and not taking political sides.

Still, in May 2017, within days of French President Emmanuel Macron first being elected, his telephone call with Bach was reported by the IOC to have included praise for a "brilliant" win.

"If FIFA and Gianni Infantino have a good relationship with Donald Trump then we hope that could be used for the good of the World Cup," the London-based Powar said in a telephone interview, "and to ensure that it's an open and inclusive World Cup. That is the risk at the moment."

- AP