FIFA Takes the Field in Debut With Miami’s Legal Community

FIFA officially made its debut in the Miami legal community at Weiss Serota Helfman Cole + Bierman’s office in Coral Gables.

Fabio Giallanza, a partner at Weiss Serota and a member of the international law section, had the event idea. Weiss Serota began focusing on the 2026 World Cup as early as last year, establishing a dedicated focus group that includes Giallanza.

When he learned his colleagues would be relocating permanently from Zurich to Miami, he worked proactively to ensure they would be warmly received within Miami’s legal community.

“The purpose of the event was to welcome the FIFA lawyers who recently relocated from Zurich to the new FIFA headquarters in Coral Gables to the Florida Bar,” Giallanza said.

The event, held at Weiss Serota offices in Coral Gables, was made possible by the shared efforts of Giallanza; Ana Barton, attorney at Reed Smith and chair of the international law section; and Alan K. Fertel, partner at Weiss Serota and chair of its sports, arts and entertainment law group.

“When you move a whole division like that, you’re not just moving lawyers; you’re moving families and communities,” Fertel said. “You’re changing lifestyles, business relationships, the kids’ schools, the environment, the country, the language.”

The event was the opportunity for the FIFA legal department to meet new friendly faces, which will be their colleagues, because as Fertel said, “the sports world, especially in Miami, is what I’d call a small town—no sheriffs. What I mean is, you keep meeting the same people over and over because there aren’t that many sports and entertainment lawyers.”

Barton said they were excited to hold the community event and welcome them.

“FIFA is excited to be here and to be a community player,” she said. “With the World Cup around the corner, being hosted here in the U.S. with Miami as one of the venue cities, it’s a significant move and one that’s going to be for the long term.”

About the impact of FIFA on the Miami legal community, Fertel is not sure about new litigation trend, but of one thing: “It is going to create a lot of lawyers that are trying to get opportunities to work with FIFA, and with soccer.”

Emilio Garcia Silvero, chief legal and compliance officer at FIFA, said they were grateful for the welcome event. “It’s nice to see that we have colleagues around and they see that FIFA is added value for the community,” he said.

“By opening this office here in Miami, we are going to operate closer to almost 50 members of FIFA. So we go with obviously North America, with Canada and the United States, Central America, Caribbean, South America. So Miami is a hub for all these FIFA members.”

He noted that FIFA is always subject to the jurisdiction of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and they will need external advice.

“We have a group of internal lawyers in-house also, but of course, we need external advice for everything,” he said. “We will benefit from the experience of talented lawyers in Florida and South Florida. We are organizing the Club World Cup here. So, we need legal advice for all these kinds of matters.”