The FIFA World Cup is heading to Trump's U.S. Will the world want to come — or even be able to?
You could argue the United States isn't exactly the most welcoming country for visitors at the moment.
There's been a surge of border crackdowns, new visa restrictions and an overall sense of fear over being detained amid multiple reports of foreigners being locked up for weeks in the five months since U.S. President Donald Trump took office.
Yet, one of the biggest, most highly anticipated and attended sports events is coming to the U.S. next year: the 2026 FIFA World Cup, soccer's premiere international competition.
The U.S. will co-host next year's World Cup with Mexico and Canada. Of the 16 host cities, 11 are on American soil. It's been estimated that, across the three countries, 6.5 million people will attend the tournament.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino, an ally of Trump, has promised that international fans will be welcome at the World Cup. But Trump's immigration stance has raised questions about potential challenges for the numerous international fans expected to travel to the U.S.
Human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch have raised "grave concerns" about the matches being held in the U.S. And at the same time that excitement has started to build for the tournament — and Toronto and Vancouver have started preparing for a deluge of soccer fans — there have been calls to boycott the U.S. as a host.
The current political climate in the U.S., if it continues, could be a considerable deterrent, especially for fans from countries that are at odds with America, according to Vijay Setlur, an expert in sport marketing and sport business in the Schulich School of Business at York University.
"I could see fans potentially staying away out of a fear of being detained. Even though they're there to watch soccer, they could be accused of espionage or something like that," Setlur told CBC News.
"It could be a big problem."
Iran for instance, was one of the first teams to qualify for the World Cup, but the two countries are engaged in a decades-long dispute over Iran's nuclear ambitions. On Wednesday night, Trump signed an order that would ban people from a dozen countries, including Iran, from entering the United States. It's set to go into effect on Monday.
The ban makes exceptions for athletes, coaches and immediate relatives travelling for the World Cup, but doesn't mention fans.
Given that the U.S. also is preparing to welcome the world for FIFA's Club World Cup later this month, golf's Ryder Cup in September and the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, the question becomes: will the world want to come, or will they even be able to?
'Intended to raise the bar'Last month, Human Rights Watch wrote an open letter to FIFA's president, citing "grave concerns" about the impacts of the U.S.'s immigration policies on the 2026 World Cup.
"Immediate action is needed to address policies that directly contradict FIFA's stated values of human rights, inclusion and global participation," the advocacy group wrote in the May 5 letter.
"The 2026 World Cup was intended to raise the bar ... these commitments are now at serious risk."
The U.S. policies cited by the advocacy group include: reported travel restrictions and bans; visa practices that require applicants to disclose their sex assigned at birth and only recognize binary sex categories; the detainment of international students; the deportation of third-country nationals; and the blocking of refugees.
Amnesty International, an international human rights NGO, has also voiced concerns for the players and fans travelling to the U.S.
In a statement to CBC News, Steve Cockburn, Amnesty International's head of business and human rights, cited Trump's mass deportation program and "arbitrary arrests and detentions." He also noted that routine border crosses "have turned into harassment," especially for 2SLGBTQ+ people, religious minorities and people of colour.
"It's hard to know who the Trump administration will target next," Cockburn said.
"With no sign of the Trump administration's cruel treatment of immigrants and crackdown on freedom of expression slowing down, travellers may unfortunately find their human rights under threat while in the U.S."
Human Rights Watch also noted that when FIFA awarded the bid to the U.S., Canada and Mexico, the decision was celebrated as one that would unite positive change. At the time, in 2018, rifts created by tariffs and a proposed border wall were glossed over because of the neighbours' longstanding political and economic alliances.
"The unity of the three nations" was the overriding theme articulated by Carlos Cordeiro, then-president of the U.S. Soccer Federation.
And it was a smart decision at the time, said Setlur, not only for FIFA to grow its revenue, but because it was also an opportunity to elevate the sport of soccer in North America's very crowded sports market.
And now, with Trump inciting trade wars with the U.S.'s neighbours and around the globe, combined with his aggressive immigration enforcement campaign?
"At this point, would FIFA from a logistical standpoint wish this World Cup was in Europe? Probably," Setlur said.
"But at this point they can't change it and they just have to hope they can lobby the U.S. government enough."
Regardless of where it's held, the month-long World Cup is often considered the biggest sporting event in terms of its magnitude and global appeal. FIFA says 1.5 billion people tuned into the 2022 final match between Argentina and France live on television (the 2025 Super Bowl, by comparison, netted about 127. 7 million viewers).
Alan Rothenberg, who ran the 1994 World Cup and oversaw the bid to host the 1999 Women's World Cup as then-president of U.S. Soccer, previously told The Associated Press that he thinks fans will still come to the FIFA World Cup.
Pointing to concerns about the last two World Cups, in Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022, he noted those tournaments still attracted more than three million attendees apiece.
"A lot of this is government-to-government," Rothenberg said. "A passionate soccer fan is not going to be held up by that."
And as travel groups have raised concerns that wait times mean fans from some of the 48 nations set to compete will not be able to secure a U.S. visa before the FIFA tournament, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the administration is considering putting consular officers on double shifts and employing artificial intelligence to help manage the processing.
Meanwhile, U.S. Vice-President JD Vance has warned that visitors must "go home" after attending matches.
"Otherwise, they'll have to talk to Secretary Noem," he said with a laugh as Trump smiled beside him, referring to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, while speaking to media during the first World Cup task force meeting in early May.
Setlur says he agrees die-hard fans will likely still come to the tournament despite the risks. But between the political deterrents and the economic cost of attending the match — not just ticket prices, but flying to North America and between the multiple host cities — he says he wonders if FIFA will be able to fill the stadium seats.
"In the U.S., soccer is growing, but it's not the No. 1 sport ... they're going to have to rely quite a bit on visitors."
cbc.ca
