As its name suggests, the FIFA World Cup is meant to be a universal event, a major popular celebration โ at least in theory. The 2026 edition, scheduled from June 11 to July 19 in Mexico, Canada and above all the United States โ where 78 of the 104 matches will be played โ seems to be taking a very different path.
Donald Trump’s domestic and foreign policies have complicated preparations for the tournament and have generated widespread anxiety about how it will be held. Within this context, the president of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, has been notably silent and has withstood the MAGA leader’s decisions without protest โas if he were a powerless bystander to the preparations for an event he is supposedly overseeing.
The FIFA chief has repeatedly promoted this as the “greatest and most inclusive show on the planet.” Yet he has not voiced concern over the US administration’s visa restrictions โ an outright ban for Iran and Haiti, and partial bans for Cรดte d’Ivoire and Senegal โ which will prevent many supporters from attending the tournament in the US. That this will, in effect, bar the vast majority of fans from Senegal โ the recent Africa Cup of Nations champions โ from coming to cheer on their team does not seem to trouble him. “Any team, including the supporters and officials (…) who qualify for a World Cup need to have access to the country, otherwise there is no World Cup. That is obvious,” Infantino had insisted in March 2017.
And what of the harsh tactics of the US federal immigration police, who killed two American citizens in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in January? Has it not cast a certain pall over the social climate where the tournament will take place? The president of FIFA has found nothing objectionable. “I don’t have any concerns,” he said when asked about the presence of these highly controversial agents around stadiums during the 2025 Club World Cup.
Human rights organizations have urged FIFA to obtain security guarantees from the White House. In early December, Daniel Norona, Amnesty International USA’s Americas advocacy director, called for the millions of expected visitors to “have the right to enjoy the game without the fear of being detained and separated from their loved ones.” The request has so far gone unanswered. Such silence is tantamount to culpability, according to Jamil Dakwar, the director at the American Civil Liberties Union: “FIFA risks becoming a stage for authoritarianism.”
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