FIFA Wanted Its President to Have a Bigger Motorcade Escort in Vancouver Than the Prime Minister of Canada

Donald Trump, Gianni Infantino

FILE – FIFA President Gianni Infantino, right, awards President Donald Trump with the FIFA Peace Prize during the draw for the 2026 soccer World Cup at the Kennedy Center in Washington, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson, File)

FIFA reportedly asked the Canadian government to provide federation president Gianni Infantino with a large-scale motorcade that even the prime minister doesn’t get.

This week, Infantino is scheduled to arrive in Vancouver, British Columbia, for FIFA’s annual congress. Canada, along with Mexico and the United States, will host the FIFA World Cup in just a few weeks.

FIFA requested that Infantino be given a “level four escort,” which would give him a motorcade that is allowed to run through red lights and block off roads, according to a report from The Times. As noted in the report, that kind of escort is the same that is provided to the President of the United States.

It is also one level below the escort provided to the pope, and one level above the kind given to the Canadian Prime Minister.

Vancouver police ultimately denied the request.

It wasn’t the first time Infantino has asked to be treated like a head of state when visiting a country. The report continued:

In 2023, Fifa requested that Infantino be given a police motorcade while visiting New Zealand during the Women’s World Cup — but was turned down by police.

New Zealand reserves motorcades for heads of state and some foreign dignitaries, and its national police force said in a statement at the time that “New Zealand police received a request” for a police escort but it “was declined after assessing it against standard operating procedures.”