Trump met with FIFA president at Bedminster

BERKELEY HEIGHTS, N.J. — President Trump met this week with the president of FIFA at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., as the U.S. prepares to host the 2026 World Cup.

A senior administration official confirmed that Gianni Infantino, head of the global soccer body, was at Bedminster on Wednesday. The president is in New Jersey on a 10-day working vacation.

{mosads}The two men discussed the financial benefits the U.S. could see as a result of hosting the tournament, the official said.

It’s unclear if they discussed the pay equality push led by the U.S. Women’s National Team, which won the Women’s World Cup last month.

All 28 members of the U.S. women’s team filed a lawsuit in March against the U.S. Soccer Federation alleging discrimination in pay and resources based on gender. The women’s team won the 2015 and 1999 World Cups, while the men have never won a World Cup title. 

Negotiations between U.S. Soccer and the women’s national team over the team’s demands for equal pay broke down Wednesday without a resolution, according to Yahoo News.

Trump has said he enjoys watching women’s soccer and praised the U.S. team’s talent. He has not taken an explicit position on whether the national team should receive equal pay.

“I think a lot of it also has to do with the economics,” Trump said in an interview with The Hill in June. “I mean who draws more, where is the money coming in. I know that when you have the great stars like [Portugal’s Cristiano] Ronaldo and some of these stars … that get paid a lot of money, but they draw hundreds of thousands of people.”

“But I haven’t taken a position on that at all,” he added. “I’d have to look at it.”

Qatar is slated to host the next World Cup in 2022, but the country has come under scrutiny amid investigations into how it won the hosting rights and questions about labor practices being used to construct the stadiums.