Or will America’s behaviour at its borders jeopardize the games?
Standing alone at a podium before a darkened sea of suits in Moscow on June 13, 2018, FIFA President Gianni Infantino, in his flat, amorphous, Euro-accented English, announced the winner of hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Four nations remained – Morocco stood alone against a “United Bid” of three countries – Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Officials of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) were meeting in Moscow, the host nation of the 2018 tournament, to decide the winning bid for hosting the 2026 games. In a split-screen, the Moroccan delegation anxiously awaited the announcement while the North Americans leaned forward in their seats.
The moment arrived without fanfare, just a matter-of-fact statement by Infantino, “We have a winner for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The FIFA Congress has selected the member associations of Canada, Mexico, and the USA to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup.”
Members of the tripartite delegation raised their arms in triumph amid cheers as the delegates blended into a mass of embraces.
The United Bid defeated Morocco by a margin of 134-65. This marked the first time three nations would host a World Cup.
The next day, host Russia defeated Saudi Arabia 5-0 in Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium. The tournament concluded a month later, with France besting Croatia 4-2 in the Final.
CONTROVERSIAL CHOICES A RECENT NORM
Selecting Russia as host for the 2018 games was met with worldwide disdain for Putin’s 2014 invasion of Crimea and widespread bombing in Syria to prop up the murderous Assad regime. Additionally, during the 2016 UEFA European Championship in France, Russian hooligans sparked riots across the host country that spread into Germany.
Qatar was another controversial choice as World Cup host for 2022. The tiny Persian Gulf emirate lacked basic infrastructure to host a major international soccer tournament. The Qatari rush to build stadiums, hotels, and other basics of hosting a World Cup, millions of low-wage migrant workers were forced to work in dangerous conditions with severe limitations on individual liberty. Qatar’s general human rights record was decried, as were laws making homosexuality a crime punishable by imprisonment. While Qatar said they would welcome LGBTQ+ fans, a security official said rainbow flags could be confiscated.
The awards to Russia and Qatar were cloaked in secrecy, leading to charges of FIFA corruption. In 2015, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch pursued charges of bribery, fraud, and money laundering, resulting in multiple guilty pleas by international soccer executives and two corporations. The charges included bribery payments by Qatar to secure votes for their hosting campaign. A report, commissioned by FIFA, issued by former United States Attorney Michael J. Garcia, led to the ouster of then-FIFA President Sepp Blatter and the president of UEFA, and soccer legend, Michel Platini. FIFA responded to the corruption charges with a promise that the 2018 process would be fully transparent.
EARLY APPREHENSIONS
The United Bid had to overcome aversions to the border policies of U.S. President Donald Trump during his first term. Six months before the U.S. was selected to tri-host, in a rant against bipartisan immigration legislation, Trump crudely characterized Haiti and African nations as “shithole countries.” Trump also painted Muslims as believing that violence against Americans is justified, while they also encouraged American Muslims to adopt Sharia Law. The American president said he preferred visitors from places like Norway.
A week after taking office in 2017, President Donald Trump signed a series of executive orders restricting travel to the United States from select nations, most Muslim-majority. Infantino warned that travel bans could invalidate the U.S. bid, portraying the policy as incompatible with tournament regulations.
“Teams who qualify for a World Cup need to have access to the country, otherwise there is no World Cup. That is obvious,” Infantino said.
In a series of letters preceding the FIFA vote, Trump assuaged fears over the travel bans with a commitment that “all eligible athletes, officials and fans from all countries around the world would be able to enter the United States without discrimination.”
In April 2017, Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. dropped their individual hosting bids to form a collective effort.
The following year, Trump nearly derailed the three-nation bid when he was warned against blackmailing FIFA nations for their vote. The president was admonished for posting a not-so-veiled threat, “The U.S. has put together a STRONG bid w/ Canada & Mexico for the 2026 World Cup. It would be a shame if countries that we always support were to lobby against the U.S. bid. Why should we be supporting these countries when they don’t support us (including at the United Nations)?”
UEFA chief, Aleksander Čeferin, earlier told The New York Times, “If players cannot come because of political decisions, or populist decisions, then the World Cup cannot be played there. It is the World Cup. They should be able to attend the event, whatever their nationality is. But let’s hope that it does not happen.”
Now, Infantino and Trump are fast friends. The FIFA chief attended Trump’s January inauguration and the president has displayed a replica World Cup trophy behind him in the Oval Office. Trump casually refers to Infantino as “Johnny,” going so far as to call him “the king of soccer.”
This past February, Infantino was forced to defend his cozy relationship with Trump against charges he was jeopardizing soccer’s independence from politics; Infantino defending his closeness with Trump as “crucial for the success of a World Cup.”
WHAT LIES AHEAD GIVEN WHAT’S HAPPENING NOW?
The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup will be a dry run for the World Cup but will stand as a pale comparison with the millions of World Cup visitors. The expanded 32-team tournament of club champions from around the world will be competing in 12 venues in 11 U.S. cities from June 14 to July 13, but attendance will be relatively light and principally domestic.
Trump’s drumbeats of tariffs and trade wars with his neighboring partners, spreading across the globe have renewed concerns about comity among the host nations. His crude comments about Mexican immigrants and demeaning Canada America’s “51st state,” trouble FIFA leadership. When Trump was asked if his behavior toward his co-hosts could jeopardize the World Cup, Trump dismissed any such impact: “I think it’s gonna make it more exciting. Tension is a good thing.”
The forecast for travel to the U.S. in 2025 is already glum given the threats of trade wars and political tensions. According to Tourism Economics, foreign visits to the U.S. are projected decline over five-percent, countering previous estimates showing an upswing in travel to the U.S. by nearly nine-percent. The drop will result in an $18-billion dollar loss in travel income.
On March 7, Infantino joined Trump in the Oval Office to unveil the Club World Cup trophy and witness Trump establish a White House task force for the 2026 World Cup to oversee government preparations, with a heavy emphasis on security.
The text of the order underscored Trump’s commitment to “showcasing national pride, hospitality, and economic opportunity through sports tourism.” Under the all-caps heading, “MAXIMIZING ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL IMPACT THROUGH STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP,” the order addressed the president’s understanding the value major sporting events “can bring to America and is committed to leveraging these opportunities to promote American excellence.”
Infantino presented Trump with a personalized game ball after displaying the Club World Cup trophy, a mesmerizing trophy to the eyes of the American president who wanted to keep it. With his wares on display, Infantino trumpeted, “we’re here to create and to make the best show on the planet ever.”
The FIFA president seeded his presentation with Trumpian keywords, gesturing alongside Trump’s desk selling the president on the huge benefits of the two events.
“America will welcome the world. There will be millions of people coming, Mr. President, millions of people. The economic impact is $40 billion between now and next year. We will create 200,000 jobs for these two World Cups. And more than that, we will give joy and happiness to the entire world and this is priceless definitely.”
“We have 10 million tickets for sale. It’s like three Super Bowls every day for one month, that everyone that goes feels safe, feels happy and feels that we are doing something special. So, we are here to create and to make the best show on the planet ever and we’ll do it together, Mr. President.”
The mention of three Super Bowls struck a chord with Trump.
“That’s great. I love what he said, like three Super Bowls a day for a month.”
Thanking Trump for his task force, Infantino emphasized “that everyone who comes to America feels safe and welcome. And that’s why it’s important that the government puts together this White House task force chaired by the president himself.” Acknowledging “there are many, many topics to deal with,” Infantino gingerly tiptoed around the issue of travel bans.
Also in the Oval Office was Kristi Noem, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary, who handled questions about her department, serving as the central point for the overall security effort. Before DHS, Noem was governor of the rural western state of South Dakota, rooted in her farming background. Noem is infamous for writing in her autobiography of shooting her 14-month-old wirehair pointer dog, Cricket, who had an “aggressive personality” and could not be trained as a pheasant hunter. Until that disclosure, Noem was a prime candidate for Trump’s vice-presidential pick.
DHS is a bureaucratic behemoth thrown together after September 11, 2001. The department encompasses key security functions of the U.S. government overseeing security for this significant international event. Chief among DHS security is border control screening foreign travellers to the U.S.:
– U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issues visas, among other duties;
– Customs and Border Protection (CBP) monitors border security, including passport control;
– Transportation Security Administration (TSA) inspects passengers and baggage at transit points;
– Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) counter national security threats.
The FBI, America’s domestic law enforcement agency, is separate and under the Department of Justice. It was not mentioned in the executive order.
Starting with the Club World Cup, DHS will have 11 “incident command centers” in host cities acting as coordinator for federal agencies, adding “working with our local law enforcement is incredibly powerful.”
“It will be a wonderful event, and everybody will be safe and fun,” Noem concluded.
“We better be, right?” quipped President Trump, seated alongside at the Resolute Desk.
Memories remain fresh of the mayhem that erupted at the 2024 Copa América final in Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium. A swell of ticketed and unticketed fans overwhelmed the gates, breaking down barricades, trampling people standing in their way, and vandalizing the stadium in their fervor to see Argentina defeat Colombia.
Concerns have persisted in the U.S. about the ability to handle the influx of perhaps eight million soccer fans, as raised by a study commissioned by the US Travel Association and seconded by the CEO of MGM Resorts International. They told CNN Sport of concerns about lengthy wait times for visa approvals, made worse by outdated technology, aging infrastructure, and staffing shortages at entry points. They warned of long lines snaking from Customs desks back to arrival gates. According to a review of the U.S. State Department visa wait times, Colombia tops the list at 507 days waiting for visa approval, and that was before the current firings across the government. Despite their concerns in February, U.S. Travel President and CEO Geoff Freeman applauded establishment of the task force. “We look forward to the positive impact this will have on both the travel industry and the nation as a whole.”
Infantino was mere days away from the Oval Office when the White House issued hints of a 2025 “red list” affecting travel to the U.S. by visitors from Sudan, Venezuela, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, Iran, Libya, Cuba and North Korea. Those nations had either been banned or restricted in Trump’s previous travel bans. They will likely be joined by Afghanistan and Pakistan in the new measure.
Additionally, citizens from another set of countries (Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, and Myanmar) will potentially face delays in their visa applications. Wealthy individuals may receive expedited visas for business purposes, but immigration and tourist visas will be heavily restricted.
Add to this the recent restrictions put into place blocking transgender people from entering the country. “If there is a discrepancy in either in the applicant’s documents or in electronic consular records, or if other evidence casts reasonable doubt on the applicant’s sex, you should refuse the case,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in a memo. Violators found to be “misrepresenting their purpose of travel or sex” could be deemed permanently ineligible for future U.S. visas.
Governments are beginning to take notice of American behavior. The German Foreign Ministry posted a warning to its citizens about recent difficulties with President Trump’s evolving border enforcement as they investigate the circumstances behind three German citizens being taken into custody – one a green card holder, the other two deported after extended stays in detention facilities, including solitary confinement. The ministry is warning Germans that even minor infractions or simple errors on forms could land them in detention with possible expulsion, plus future prohibitions against entry to the U.S.
A British woman, Rebecca Burke, reported being detained for three weeks in “horrendous conditions” due to a visa mix-up. A Canadian woman, Jasmine Mooney, was taken into custody upon returning to Los Angeles following a visit with her family in British Columbia. The reason: an incomplete form that landed her in a concrete cell in “inhumane conditions.”
Any renewed ban will fall under an executive order signed by Trump the day he took office on January 20, 2025, titled “Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats.” The order seeks to protect the U.S. from “aliens who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security, espouse hateful ideology, or otherwise exploit the immigration laws for malevolent purposes.”
During his first term in office, Trump’s Executive Order 13769 was similarly titled, “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States.” His 2017 executive order caused international chaos. In the face of a World Cup fan tsunami, can anything less than chaos can be expected?
Key to the work of the White House task force will be a report from the secretaries of State and Homeland Security, along with the Attorney General and Director of National Intelligence, due by March 21, identifying “countries throughout the world for which vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension on the admission of nationals from those countries.” Anonymous government officials told The New York Times that Trump’s new travel ban will be broader than its previous four versions.
As of the 21st, no report had been released but confirmations circulated that three classes of nations would determine citizen ability to the visit the U.S.:
According to the National Immigration Forum, under the renewed policy, nations are classified into three tiers: Red, Orange, and Yellow. Citizens from Afghanistan, Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen will be classified as “Red” and barred from entering the U.S.
The next level will be “Orange” where citizens from Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar, and South Sudan will face increased visa application scrutiny, including a mandatory in-person interview. Given the lack of official information, Russia and Belarus have been speculated as heading for an Orange classification.
The third tier, “Yellow,” will put the nations of Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Belarus, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Pakistan, Republic of the Congo, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, East Timor, Turkmenistan, and Vanuatu on notice. They will have 60 days to address concerns from the Trump administration or risk being elevated.
Despite the March 21 deadline, the U.S. State Department has not confirmed the final list, saying the review of visa policies is ongoing.
Of the 11 Club World Cup host cities, all but two are classified as “sanctuary cities,” likely drawing special attention from ICE in their search for “illegal aliens.” The hunt for the illegals could pose hazards to visitors from outside the U.S. The administration is upping the pressure with White House immigration czar Tom Homan warning he’ll be “bringing hell” to target cities. The arrest and detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate and green card holder, plus the separation of individuals from their families and anonymously flown to a foreign land without a court hearing, are sending a chilling message to potential visitors.
WHAT SHOULD FIFA DO?
Time for FIFA to assess the evolving situation is limited. This summer’s Club World Cup will act as the test preamble for the World Cup, kicking off a year later when Mexico plays the opening match on June 11, 2026, in Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca. The tournament will conclude on July 19, with the Final to be played in MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. In all, 104 World Cup matches will be played in 16 cities, with the United States hosting 78 matches, including the quarterfinals forward, while Canada and Mexico will each host 13.
If the U.S. fails in hosting the Club World Cup due to problems at the borders or at venues, what will FIFA do to assure people coming from around the globe to attend the World Cup, as Secretary Noem said, “will be safe and fun”?
Dennis Whitehead is a writer and photographer in the Washington, DC area, as well as a Fulham fan. He is the author of several books on 20th-century wars and is finishing a nonfiction true crime telling of a series of murders in the 1960s.
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2025-03-24 14:46:24
