President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi today received a delegation from the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), visiting Egypt as part of the second stop of the promotional tour for the World Cup, to be held in the United States, Mexico and Canada in June 2026.
The delegation included Fabio Cannavaro, former Italy national team player and winner of FIFA's World Player of the Year award in 2006; Javier Ignacio Sebe Berdichevsky, director at FIFA headquarters in Zurich; Sebastian Ferreo, director of the World Cup Trophy Tour; Alexandros Kavasilas, Vice President of sponsor Coca-Cola for Nigeria and North Africa operations; and Hanna Haddad, General Manager of the sponsor in Egypt and Sudan. Attending on the Egyptian side were Dr. Ashraf Sobhy, Minister of Youth and Sports, and Eng. Hany Abou Rida, President of the Egyptian Football Association.
Ambassador Mohamed El-Shenawy, the official spokesman for the Presidency, stated that the FIFA delegation's visit comes as part of the World Cup Trophy Tour, a historic global journey passing through 30 countries and 75 different stops around the world carrying the original World Cup trophy. The tour is part of the celebration of 20 years of the "Trophy Tour" organized jointly by FIFA and Coca-Cola, the international platform for promoting the FIFA World Cup 2026.
The official spokesman said that President El-Sisi welcomed the FIFA delegation's visit to Egypt, stressing that choosing Egypt as the second stop of the World Cup tour reflects its standing on the map of global sporting events and represents an important opportunity to boost sports tourism, spread sporting culture among young people and support the state's vision of expanding sports participation and strengthening public engagement with major global events.
The official spokesman explained that the FIFA delegation expressed its appreciation for the meeting with the President, praising Egypt's advanced sports infrastructure and its great organizational experience in hosting regional and international championships and events. For his part, the President expressed his hope that the next edition of the World Cup will be a great success, especially as it is the largest in terms of the number of participating teams, wishing the Egyptian national football team positive results and hoping that Egypt will host the FIFA World Cup in the future, according to the Facebook page of the official spokesman for the Presidency.
