Infantino, FIFA President, competes on his Middle East tour

When President Trump welcomed dignitaries and business leaders on Tuesday during his state visit to Saudi Arabia, he was hit by a very familiar face: Gianni Infantino, the president of the leadership committee of football, FIFA, who has been a loyal supporter since Mr. Trump.

The close relationship between Mr. Trump and Mr. Infantino, a Swiss-Italian football administrator, has lifted the eyebrows in football circles and beyond for years. The friendship seems to go beyond a leader of a world championship moderator nation.

On Wednesday, Mr. Infantino Mr. Trump will connect on the second leg of his presidential tour by Gulf States in Qatar, the thumb shape, on the Saudi Arabia peninsula, which the World Cup is bordered in 2022. The football boss is expected to lead a ceremony in which the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Hamad.

It is not expected that representatives of Canada and Mexico are present. In the White House last week, Mr. Trump joked, whose tariffs with the two US neighbors committed the tensions that Mr. Infantino really downplayed her roles at the World Cup.

Mr. Infantino's trips with Mr. Trump this week surprised the FIFA members, who gathered thousands of miles away for the annual congress of the organization in Paraguay. A FIFA board meeting in Paraguay, which was set for this week, was hastily moved to a video conference so that Mr. Infantino could travel to the Golf with the US delegation.

“The FIFA President accepted invitations to take part in a number of important events with the leaders of the world, in which the FIFA World Championships are also discussed,” said FIFA in a statement. Mr. Infantino is now supposed to travel to Paraguay to align the congress on Thursday, which was pushed back by an hour to accompany changes.