LONDON (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump received on Wednesday a reminder that FIFA, not any government, ultimately decides which cities will host the matches of the 2026 World Cup.
Last week, Trump suggested he could declare certain host cities “unsafe” for the 104-match football tournament next summer, and upend a detailed venue plan that FIFA confirmed in 2022. The plan includes NFL stadiums near New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
The 11 host cities in the United States, plus three in Mexico (and two in Canada, they are under contract with FIFA, which would face significant logistical and legal hurdles to implement changes eight months before kickoff on June 11.
“It’s FIFA’s tournament, FIFA’s jurisdiction; FIFA makes those decisions,” said FIFA Vice President Victor Montagliani on Wednesday at a sports business conference in London.
The Canadian president of CONCACAF, the regional football body for North America, Central America and the Caribbean, stated that the sport is “bigger” than any current political debate.
“With all due respect to today’s world leaders, football is bigger than them, and football will outlast their regimes, their governments and their slogans. That is the beauty of our game, which is bigger than any individual and bigger than any country,” Montagliani said in a stage interview.
Trump’s remarks last week came in response to a question about World Cup host cities that oppose his hardline immigration and crime measures.
“If I think it’s not safe, we’ll move it,” the U.S. president said in the Oval Office.
Trump also referenced the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics: “Any city that goes even a little dangerous for the World Cup, we’ll move it a bit. But I hope that doesn’t happen.”
The World Cup and the Olympics depend on host-nation governments at all levels for commitments worth hundreds of millions of dollars in security, visa processing and law enforcement. The last four male World Cup hosts were Qatar, Russia, Brazil and South Africa.
Trump maintains a close working relationship with FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who is a frequent White House visitor. Infantino has not publicly commented on the issue of cities deemed too dangerous to host matches in the 48-team tournament that runs through July 19.
