U.S. President Donald Trump was reminded Wednesday that FIFA, not any government, ultimately decides which cities will host 2026 World Cup games.
Trump suggested last week he could declare cities “not safe” for the 104-game soccer tournament next summer and alter a detailed hosting plan that FIFA confirmed in 2022. It includes NFL stadiums near New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The 11 U.S. host cities, plus three in Mexico and two in Canada (Toronto and Vancouver), are contracted with FIFA which would face significant logistical and legal issues to make changes in the eight months before the June 11 kickoff.
“It’s FIFA’s tournament, FIFA’s jurisdiction, FIFA makes those decisions,” the soccer body’s vice president Victor Montagliani, who is based in Vancouver, said Wednesday at a sports business conference in London.
The Canadian president of North American regional soccer body CONCACAF said the sport is “bigger” than any current political debate.
“With all due respect to current world leaders, football is bigger than them and football will survive their regime and their government and their slogans,” the Montagliani said in an on-stage interview. “That’s the beauty of our game, is that it is bigger than any individual and bigger than any country.”
Trump’s comments last week were in response to a question about World Cup cities that oppose his immigration and crime crackdowns.
“If I think it’s not safe, we’re going to move it out,” the U.S. president said in the Oval Office.
Soccer fans in Vancouver get a glimpse of FIFA World Cup trophy
Any city that “is going to be even a little bit dangerous for the World Cup,” Trump said, also referring to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, “we’ll move it around a little bit. But I hope that’s not going to happen.”
The World Cup and Olympic Games do rely on host nation governments at all levels for hundreds of millions of dollars worth of commitments on security, visa processing and law enforcement. The past four hosts of the men’s World Cup were Qatar, Russia, Brazil and South Africa.
Trump has a close working relationship with FIFA president Gianni Infantino who is a regular visitor to the White House. Infantino has not publicly commented on the issue of cities being judged too dangerous to host games at the 48-team tournament that runs through July 19.
