The summer's biggest sporting event hasn't kicked off yet, and it has already produced one of the stranger personnel announcements of the second Trump term. Andrew Giuliani — golfer, former White House sports liaison, and the son of Rudy — is now the face of America's World Cup hospitality operation, handed the keys to a hosting role for a tournament that spans 16 cities and runs through late July.
The appointment, reported by The New York Times on May 19, lands Andrew Giuliani at the center of a genuinely enormous logistical undertaking. The 2026 edition is the first to feature 48 nations, the first to be co-hosted across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, and by most projections the most-watched soccer tournament ever staged on American soil. The pressure is real. The scrutiny will be, too.
What Andrew Giuliani brings to it is a question the briefing notes don't fully answer. His West Wing tenure under Trump's first term was largely ceremonial — he was photographed in the Oval Office more than he was quoted in policy documents — and his attempts at elected office, including a 2021 New York gubernatorial run that ended in a primary loss, didn't add much to the resume. What he has, reliably and demonstrably, is the loyalty credential. In the extended orbit of Trump-world, that has proven to be a durable form of currency.
The elder Giuliani, once introduced at rallies as the man who cleaned up New York, is now a considerably diminished figure — disbarred, the subject of a $148 million defamation judgment, and largely sidelined from the political operation his son still moves through freely. The World Cup gig is, among other things, a reminder that the name still opens doors even as the man who made it famous exits through the back.
Matches at the U.S. venues begin in June. The final is scheduled for MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on July 19.