Trump Seems Intent on Tanking the World Cup
In a sane world, there would be attempts to rein him in before he mars the most-watched sporting event on the planet.
By Shalise Manza Young
There is nothing Donald Trump loves more than being the star of the show. And if can take credit for the show’s creation, all the better.
But Trump’s ever-more-fascistic behavior and the appalling impotence of Republican congressional leaders are threatening what should be one of the biggest parties the United States has ever hosted, a party Trump unsurprisingly has claimed he secured for the United States, Canada, and Mexico: this year’s men’s World Cup, which begins June 11.
His imbecilic yet certifiably authoritarian decision to have untrained, lawless Immigrations and Customs Enforcement hoods roam several American airports under the guise of “helping” Transportation Security Administration agents currently affected by a shutdown is only the latest move to sow chaos for the quadrennial celebration of the world’s most popular sport.
International travel into the country declined 6% in 2025, including a 22% drop in tourism from Canada, and it has continued to decline in the early months of this year. Hosting the World Cup is supposed to mean millions of visitors, but how many fans will want to come here under these conditions?
They could be accosted and roughed up by ICE goons before even stepping foot outside the airport, and, thanks to Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, if they’re Hispanic, Muslim, members of the African diaspora, or even vaguely non-European looking, getting back home in one piece could be a crapshoot.
Iran, on the receiving end of an unprovoked attack from Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu, was one of the first nations to qualify for a spot in the 48-team tournament. Not long after the first bomb strikes, Iran’s sports minister said the country would not take part, then decided to see if their three group matches, currently scheduled to be played in Los Angeles and Seattle, can be moved to Mexico.
Doing that, however, would impact not just Iran but the other teams in Group G — Belgium, Egypt and New Zealand. Itt appears FIFA is unwilling to make the change, despite Trump saying this month that he doesn’t think it’s appropriate for Iran to attend “for their own life and safety.”
Even before the United States’ war of choice with Iran, the country was on the State Department’s travel ban list. Three other countries on that list — Haiti, Senegal, and Ivory Coast — also qualified for the World Cup. The Trump regime has said it will allow players and immediate family members from those nations the temporary visas needed, but countrymen who aren’t already in the United States legally will be shut out of the opportunity to support their teams in person.
Citizens from 12 other Cup-qualified nations are no longer allowed to apply for immigrant visas, meaning they should be clear to travel here. But even American citizens aren’t safe when ICE is around, so what does that mean for an Algerian family that lands in Kansas City in their country’s colors?
In a sane world, there would be attempts to rein in Trump before he mars the most-watched sporting event on the planet. Lucky for Trump, Gianni Infantino is president of FIFA, soccer’s governing body, and if Trump is the king of never being held accountable, Infantino, who does little to hide his own autocratic impulses, is part of his royal court.
And he knows that the easiest way to stay on Trump’s good side is to present him with anything golden with a title attached.
Thus, at the World Cup draw event in Washington, D.C., in December, Infantino gave Trump a newly conjured “peace prize,” a Temu-level substitute for the Nobel Peace Prize Trump so desperately wants because the Black president has one.
Infantino’s gift was an ugly statue and a gold medal that Trump put around his own neck, grinning like a Cheshire cat at the shiny new trinket he received.
(As a quick aside: shoutout to the people of Foxborough, Mass., the town of 18,000 that is home to Gillette Stadium, which is slated to host seven Cup games. The town was expected to front nearly $8 million in security costs – money it doesn’t have just lying around – on the assurance it would eventually be reimbursed by Robert Kraft, whose Kraft Group owns the NFL’s New England Patriots, the stadium, and most of the land surrounding it. But Foxborough’s five-person Select Board stared down soccer’s governing body, FIFA, and associated Cup organizations, refusing to approve the necessary entertainment license until it got more than an I.O.U. After the chair of the Select Board spoke with Kraft directly, the multi-billionaire wired the town $1.52 million, the first of several payments.)
And lest we forget, the 2028 Summer Olympics are set to be held in Los Angeles. At the accelerated rate of madness happening now, it’s terrifying to think what this country and the world will look like by then. Trump and Netenyahu have set off a war in the Middle East, and in some ways it feels like there’s a civil war happening in this country, whether between the über-wealthy Epstein class and the rest of us, the white narcissist/Christian nationalist cohort and anyone Black or Hispanic and most women, or those virulently opposed to democracy and those of us fighting to keep the flicker of its promise aglow.
Sport is one of the very few things that can unite us.
The World Cup is supposed to be one big, beautiful reality show.
Yet somehow, ratings-obsessed Trump seems intent on tanking what should be a blockbuster event.
Shalise Manza Young was most recently a columnist at Yahoo Sports, focusing on the intersection of race, gender and culture in sports. The Associated Press Sports Editors named her one of the 10 best columnists in the country in 2020. She has also written for the Boston Globe and Providence Journal. Find her on Bluesky @shalisemyoung.
"thanks to Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, if they’re Hispanic, Muslim, members of the African diaspora, or even vaguely non-European looking, getting back home in one piece could be a crapshoot."
White people are also targets of the ICE crapshoot.
Canadians crossing into the US face the threat of arrest every time they try. Over 50 Canadian citizens have been detrained, including a mother and her autistic daughter, and a Canadian national, Johnny Noviello, who died in custody when he was denied appropriate medical care.
Soccer fans need to know they are facing real risks if they decide to travel to the US to see the matches.
My thoughts, too, Shalise, as I am working on a book for someone currently on security staff for the U.S. events. I asked them if they were worried about ICE presence, and they said no--that Infantino and America's president-king had everything under control. This told me ... that they absolutely do not. Next up: wreck the World Series and Superbowl because Trump got booed once.