𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Whether it is taking centre stage at the men’s World Cup draw in Washington DC at the beginning of December, appearing at a NFL play-off game, or attending the Africa Cup of Nations final, Gianni Infantino keeps a busy schedule.

The FIFA president, responsible for running world football’s governing body, was also at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, where he attended a reception hosted by the Qatar Investment Authority and a Global Citizen event before delivering his own speech on Thursday.

Donald Trump, the U.S. president with whom Infantino has formed close ties, was also at Davos, and Infantino watched on as Trump spoke to a packed room before later posting on social media about being in attendance for the 79-year-old’s ‘Board of Peace’ signing.

Football seldom stands still and, seemingly, nor does Infantino.

The 55-year-old showcases who he has met and where he has been via his Instagram account, which boasts just shy of four million followers. 

Of the 20 Premier League clubs, only Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United have more followers on the social media platform than Infantino.

Given other high-profile leaders of sport, including the NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin and Premier League chief executive Richard Masters, do not appear to have a public presence on Instagram, Infantino is bucking that trend.

Perhaps Infantino wants people to know how many people he is meeting and the countries he is visiting. Or there is an element of transparency to who he meets and Instagram is his way of talking directly to a football audience. Either way, he certainly doesn’t stay still for long.

After leaving Washington following a unique World Cup draw on December 5, which started with Infantino awarding President Trump the FIFA Peace Prize and ended with the Village People singing YMCA, Infantino was off to the Middle East — but not before returning to Switzerland.

On December 11, Infantino attended the 14th Olympic Summit meeting at Olympic House in Lausanne, along with other leaders of international federations, led by new IOC president Kirsty Coventry. In his role as FIFA president, Infantino was elected as an IOC member in 2020.

It was then all systems Doha, Qatar, home of the 2022 men’s World Cup, for several key engagements, including the FIFA Best awards ceremony and a FIFA Council meeting.

Before that, however, Infantino popped up at the FIFA Challenger Cup on December 13, uploading a behind-the-scenes video of himself, before next appearing at the FIFA Club Management Summit. 

Here, he posed for pictures with Bafetimbi Gomis, the former France international, and Alexandre Pato, the ex-Milan striker.

Another post emerged on December 14, with a video showing the FIFA president taking part in a friendly football match.

It was back to the serious business the following day, with Infantino appearing alongside Pierluigi Collina at the FIFA Referees Committee. He then attended the Arab Cup semi-finals between Jordan and Saudi Arabia, and then the match between Morocco and the United Arab Emirates.

There was then another committee session in Doha on the day of the FIFA Best awards, which is where Paris Saint-Germain’s Ousmane Dembele won men’s player of the year and Barcelona’s Aitana Bonmati was crowned women’s player of the year for the third time in a row.

FIFA then hosted a meeting of its Council — FIFA’s decision-making body — in Doha with its members elected by the FIFA Congress. The FIFA Council essentially sets the vision for global football.

Infantino’s trip to Qatar culminated in the Intercontinental Cup tie between PSG, the 2024-25 Champions League winners, and Flamengo, the Brazilian side that won the 2025 Copa Libertadores, on December 17, with Infantino then watching the Arab Cup final between Jordan and Morocco.

Infantino then made his way to Rabat, Morocco, where he met member associations from Africa ahead of AFCON getting underway.

His social media platform was populated with pictures of Infantino presenting Achraf Hakimi with a FIFA Best Men’s 11 Award at the Mohammed VI Football Academy centre in Morocco, before a video of his attendance at the opening gala dinner for AFCON in Rabat on December 21.

Infantino next appeared alongside a country’s president on December 26, when he was invited by Paul Kagame in Kigali and watched the Rwanda Premier League game between Gasogi United and AS Kigali.

Under Infantino’s presidency, FIFA’s presence in Rwanda is growing. In 2021, it opened a regional development office and then took its Congress to Kigali in 2023, which was the first time the annual event had been hosted in Central Africa. It was also at this Congress that Infantino was re-elected unopposed to continue serving as the governing body’s president until 2027.

Reflecting on his trip via Instagram, Infantino thanked Kagame and the Rwandan Football Association for their commitment to “using football as a force for good”.

After saying goodbye to Kagame, Infantino was back in the Middle East, in Dubai for the World Sports Summit. Photos of himself and Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the crown prince of Dubai and deputy prime minister of the UAE, were posted online on December 29.

This photo opportunity came against the backdrop of FIFA and the Dubai Sports Council signing a Memorandum of Understanding at the World Sports Summit in Dubai for the FIFA Best awards — although it will no longer be called that as they are being replaced — to be held annually in Dubai, with the first ceremony taking place in 2026.

The following day, a photo of Infantino meeting Jannik Sinner, the men’s tennis player, was added to his social media. 

Cutting down on screen time was clearly not on the agenda for 2026, as Infantino uploaded several photos of his attendance at South Africa v Cameroon and Morocco v Tanzania during the AFCON group stages. One of the photos included an embrace with Samuel Eto’o, the former Barcelona forward and current president of the Cameroonian Football Federation.

From Morocco to the United States, specifically Las Vegas on January 7 — where FIFA had looked into hosting the men’s World Cup draw on December 5 before selecting Washington and ensuring Trump’s attendance  — for the Lenovo Tech World Summit.

Lenovo is one of FIFA’s commercial partners, hence Infantino’s attendance at their showpiece event, and it is where global tech leaders congregate.

From Las Vegas, Infantino headed to FIFA’s headquarters in Coral Gables, Miami, before appearing next to Robert Kraft, the owner of the NFL’s New England Patriots, in Boston for their play-off match against the Los Angeles Chargers.

Kraft was named honorary chairman of the board for the U.S. World Cup bid committee in 2017, while Gillette Stadium, which is owned by the American billionaire, is due to host seven matches during the World Cup.

Kraft is one of the most influential figures in American sports and has a long-standing relationship with football, helping to save Major League Soccer from nearly folding in 2001, having been one of its founding members. Infantino was previously photographed alongside Kraft at the Patriots-New York Jets game in September 2021.

It was back to the round ball on January 18, as Infantino was filmed at the memorable, if chaotic, AFCON final between Senegal and Morocco.

Whatever you think of Infantino, the FIFA president clearly feels at home on the world stage.

With the men’s World Cup in the U.S., Canada and Mexico less than five months away, expect to see him on a TV screen near you soon.