FIFA head Gianni Infantino attends U-20 Women's World Cup opener in Katowice

Tournament opening in Katowice

FIFA President Gianni Infantino arrived in Poland on Saturday, 5 September 2026, to attend the opening match of the Under-20 Women's World Cup between host nation Poland and Argentina. Infantino landed in Katowice aboard a private aircraft before noon and travelled directly to Hotel Monopol in the city centre. A delegation from the Polish Football Association (PZPN) received the FIFA chief at the hotel before travelling to Arena Katowice, locally known as Nowa Bukowa. The tournament began with a brief and dynamic opening ceremony that featured no formal speeches or standard official proclamations from federation executives.

We are ready for the tournament.

Officials and stadium presence

Infantino took his seat in the VIP tribune of Arena Katowice alongside PZPN President Cezary Kulesza and the chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee, Pierluigi Collina. The presence of the FIFA leadership drew attention from photojournalists present at the stadium ahead of kickoff. Official confirmation of Infantino's attendance arrived on Friday evening, when PZPN media and communications director Tomasz Kozłowski announced that PZPN Secretary General Łukasz Wachowski had received formal notice from the FIFA general secretariat. Video published by the official PZPN channel Łączy Nas Piłka documented the arrival, showing Infantino greeting Kulesza with an embrace before entering the stadium grounds.

Format and host cities

The Under-20 Women's World Cup gathers 24 national teams competing across four host cities in southern and central Poland: Katowice, Sosnowiec, Bielsko-Biała, and Łódź. Following their opening match against Argentina, the Polish team will continue Group A play against Mexico and Benin. The competition will run through the remainder of the month, concluding with the final on 27 September 2026 at the stadium in Łódź. The event represents the first international tournament staged under FIFA auspices since the men's World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico held across June and July 2026.

Boycott suspension and commercial disputes

Participation of European squads in the tournament had remained uncertain until late August, when UEFA announced the temporary suspension of a planned boycott against FIFA competitions. The European governing body had organized the protest in response to Infantino's commercial proposal to create a separate operating enterprise valued at 20 billion dollars to manage future World Cups and related events. The contested blueprint allocated a 20 percent ownership stake in the enterprise to external private investors.

Investor pushback and governance

Resistance to the commercialization plan expanded beyond Europe, drawing formal opposition from the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) as well as the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The private investor group selected to lead the consortium was Thrive Eternal, an investment vehicle operated by Thrive Capital, a fund founded by Joshua Kushner. Kushner is the brother of Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of United States President Donald Trump. Facing unified resistance across continental confederations, FIFA suspended the partial privatization plan, allowing European teams to travel to Poland for the competition.