Vancouver police have reportedly denied a request for the head of FIFA to be given a level of police escort on par with U.S. presidents.
Gianni Infantino, the Trump-friendly head of soccer’s international governing body, will be in the Canadian city this week for meetings ahead of the World Cup, which will take place over several weeks this summer in Vancouver and 15 other sites in North America.
But Infantino will not be afforded special mobility around the city because he is not a head of state or the pope.
“Formal motorcades where traffic is stopped are reserved for heads of state,” Vancouver Deputy Chief Don Chapman said in a statement, the Associated Press reported. “As the FIFA executive do not meet Internationally Protected Person (IPP) standards that would warrant such an escort (closing roads, intersections, not adhering to traffic devices, etc.), the request was declined.”
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim’s office added in a statement that “there will be no motorcade proceeding through traffic signals, and no Emergency Response Team assigned in the manner described.”
“Any transportation arrangements that are made will be appropriate, measured, and consistent with how Vancouver safely hosts major international events,” the statement said.
FIFA requested a level four escort, according to Global BC News, which is the same measure taken for U.S. presidents, one level below the Pope, and one above Canada’s own prime minister.
But a FIFA spokesperson denied doing so.
FIFA “never requested a specific level of police motorcade for the FIFA President,” the spokesperson told the outlet, adding that the “FIFA President was not aware of, or involved in, any requests with authorities in relation to his transportation and security matters for the 76th FIFA Congress.”
The spokesperson added that the request was made by FWC26 Canada, which “liaised with authorities requesting support in relation to all delegates, guests, and stakeholders.”
The Daily Beast has contacted FIFA and the Vancouver police for comment.
Infantino, 56, has ingratiated himself with Trump in recent months. Late last year, he awarded the president—who had just lost out on the Nobel Peace Prize he had sought—with the hastily created “FIFA Peace Prize.” Infantino has also been seen in the Oval Office, at the president’s Board of Peace meetings, and by Trump’s side at UFC events.
For a while, the golden World Cup trophy even sat on the president’s desk after Trump had asked Infantino if he could keep it. The item was one of many gold items in his office.
Infantino also gifted Trump the “first ticket” to the World Cup final at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium in July.
