Local, state leaders welcome World Cup officials at red carpet dinner with FIFA President Infantino in Miami Beach

Several leaders from across the community and each level of government greeted FIFA officials at a red carpet dinner celebration in Miami Beach, Thursday night.

As the final week before the start of the World Cup counts down, FIFA President Gianni Infantino along with other officials for the global soccer giant were treated to a star-studded dinner at the Faena Forum.

Local legends like Emilio Estefan, who produced a song featured on the official World Cup album, were in attendance, fully immersed in frenzy for the start of the international tournament.

“It’s great. In Miami, it’s exciting, this is the first dinner we’re going to have celebrating,” said Estefan.

“We’re on our countdown, seven days,” said Rita Case, CEO of Rick Case Automotive Group.

“We’re prepared, we’re ready to go,” said Rodney Barreto, the FIFA Host Committee co-chair.

In just under a week, the global showdown will bring together some of the biggest athletes on the pitch and hundreds of thousands of fans in the stands for several promotional events and the seven games that will be played in Miami.

Thursday’s dinner served as an official kickoff for the FIFA Host Committee and gratitude for the tremendous work put in by countless individuals to organize the contest.

“It’s kind of our kick off and to thank everybody and that’s so important and thank the people that are all making it happen,” said Barreto.

Some of those people in attendance included public safety officials, who told 7News they are ready to execute their plans to ensure the safety of everyone at the stadium.

“We’re ready. I think we’re going to be talking about what are the plans, security-wise,” said Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle.

“We’ve been training for this, we’ve been working with our municipal partners and our state and federal partners,” said Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz.

Mayor Daniella Levine Cava pointed to Miami’s growing reputation as the ideal location for major sporting events.

“We’re becoming a sports capital increasingly and this is not a test run; we’ve already had test runs,” said Levine Cava.

Alina Hudak, the CEO of the FIFA World Cup Host Committee, said this is the result from years of hard work.

“I’ve worked on six Super Bowl host committees and I will tell you this is like planning seven Super Bowls in one month,” said Hudak.

While Infantino made an appearance at the dinner, he didn’t take any questions. Infantino did say he would be answering questions during a press conference scheduled for Friday.