★ The Sports Examiner: Chronicling the key competitive, economic and political forces shaping elite sport and the Olympic Movement.★
★ To get the daily Sports Examiner Recap by e-mail: sign up here! ★
≡ FIFA WORLD CUP 2026 ≡
FIFA is getting ready to start selling 2026 World Cup tickets in 16 host cities on Wednesday, 1 October, with more than 4.5 million people registered for a place in line for online sales.
But on Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump, who has a close relationship with FIFA chief Gianni Infantino (SUI) offering a stunning reply during an Oval Office news conference question about safety and the World Cup:
“You have a number of cities that are pushing back against your immigration-deportation move as well as your crime initiatives. Some of those cities have World Cup games – Seattle, San Francisco – could those games move if they don’t cooperate with your crime initiatives?”
Trump’s reply was, as is often the case, more of a sweeping commentary that also included a direct answer:
“We’re going to make sure they’re safe. They are run by radical left lunatics that don’t know what they’re doing.
“Look at Washington, D.C. I just got numbers, there’s like no crime in Washington, D.C. You, Jeff, will not be mugged walking down the street. You can walk down the street with your family, you can walk down the street with your wife, your daughter, your son, and you’re not going to be … we took out 1,700 career criminals that we’re not allowing back. And we have this city in great shape.
“You know, there was a time – not long ago – when every single week you would have at least one murder. And look what’s happening with Washington, it’s safe. I went to dinner in Washington, just to prove a point, I gave a press conference in the middle of the street. I wouldn’t say Secret Service was thrilled, but I did it and here I am.
“Look, Washington, D.C. is such a great example of what can be done. We did it in 12 days, we made it very safe in 12 days and now it’s mich safer than that. One other thing: I drove around Washington over the weekend and I said, look at the difference. The grass looked great, everything looked great. You know, we had our National Guard and we didn’t ask them to do it, they did it themselves. They’re proud. They’re great, and they were picking up paper, they were cleaning, the place looked really beautiful. So we have a great Washington, D.C. As you probably know, we’re going into Memphis, we’re going into some other cities, very soon we’re going into Chicago.
“It will be safe for the World Cup. If I think it isn’t safe, we’ll move it into a different city, absolutely. … It’s actually a very fair question. If I think it’s not safe, we’re going to move it out of that city.”
Trump then went on to talk about Illinois and specifically Chicago, but came back to:
“So no, if any city we think is going to be even a little bit dangerous for the World Cup or for the Olympics, you know, where they have Olympic overthrow, right? But for the World Cup, in particular, because they’re playing in so many cities, we won’t allow it to go to it. We’ll move it around a little bit. But I hope that’s not going to happen, yeah.”
Let’s start with this: there will be no World Cup matches in Chicago. But there are 11 stadia which will host 2026 World Cup matches in the U.S., six of which are not in the “name city,” but are in suburbs or close-by areas, where the security situation could be quite different. Further, of the “name city” locations, nine have Democratic mayors (* = mayoral election to be held in November):
Atlanta:
● 8 matches
● Mercedes-Benz Stadium
● Atlanta Mayor: Andre Dickens (D)
Boston:
● 7 matches
● Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts
● Foxborough Mayor: none (town manager)
● Boston Mayor: Michelle Wu (D)
Dallas:
● 8 matches
● AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas
● Arlington Mayor: Jim Ross (D)
● Dallas Mayor: Eric Johnson (R)
Houston:
● 7 matches
● NRG Stadium
● Houston Mayor: John Whitmire (D)
Kansas City:
● 6 matches
● Arrowhead Stadium
● Kansas City Mayor: Quinton Lucas (D)
Los Angeles:
● 8 matches
● SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California
● Inglewood Mayor: James Butts, Jr. (I)
● Los Angeles Mayor: Karen Bass (D)
Miami:
● 7 matches
● Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida
● Miami Gardens Mayor: Rodney Harris (i)
● Miami Mayor: Francis Suarez (R)
New York/New Jersey:
● 8 matches
● MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey
● East Rutherford Mayor: James Cassella (R)
● New York Mayor: Eric Adams (D)*
Philadelphia:
● 6 matches
● Lincoln Financial Field
● Philadelphia Mayor: Cherelle Parker (D)
San Francisco:
● 6 matches
● Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California
● Santa Clara Mayor: Lisa Gillmor (I)
● San Francisco Mayor: Daniel Lurie (D)
Seattle:
● 6 matches
● Lumen Field
● Seattle Mayor: Bruce Harrell (D)*
So Trump hardly will have cooperative local mayors in the major cities hosting World Cup matches next year. For the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles, incumbent Karen Bass is running for re-election in 2026, and could be vulnerable.
Short of war or a natural disaster such as a major earthquake, moving any World Cup match after ticket sales have begun is a nightmare scenario for FIFA and any host community that would be affected, with lengthy, detailed contracts already in place and millions in prep costs already expended. Further, refusing Federal security support for the World Cup would be malpractice for any local mayor, regardless of party.
Thus, it’s not at all likely to happen. But Trump always leaves his opponents leery of any move he might make, which they are ready to oppose, regardless of what it is.
His expectation and therefore what is likely to happen, is that the 78 matches slated for U.S. venues will be played as scheduled.
But you never know.
¶
★ Receive our exclusive, weekday TSX Recap by e-mail by clicking here.
★ Sign up a friend to receive the TSX Recap by clicking here.
★ Please consider a donation here to keep this site going.
For our updated, 699-event International Sports Calendar for 2025, 2026 and beyond, by date and by sport, click here!
