On the one hand, Gianni Infantino, the FIFA president, is so obsequious in courting Trump that he confects a peace prize in his honour and turns up at the inaugural Board of Peace meeting wearing a red USA cap branded 45-47, in reference to the president’s non-consecutive terms. On the other, Denmark has still not shelved the option of boycotting the tournament in protest at Trump’s bellicose rhetoric over Greenland.
Everywhere you look, there are potential flashpoints. Staging the United States’ first group game in Los Angeles?
While this should be the perfect stage for Trump to flex his muscle, it is also a city where his popularity is plummeting, in light of heavy-handed immigration and customs enforcement (ICE), and in a state where Gavin Newsom, California’s governor, is the runaway favourite to be the Democratic presidential nominee in 2028.
How quaint to recall that the 2026 World Cup was sold, during the bid process in 2017, under the marketing banner “United”, suggesting that an event of unprecedented geographic spread could still be a recipe for exquisite harmony.
Even among the co-hosts, that idea today looks painfully naive. Relations between Washington and Ottawa are at a historic low point, in the wake of Trump’s tariff war and his repeated threats to make Canada the “51st state”, going so far as to publicise a fake map with the Stars and Stripes plastered everywhere from Banff to Baffin Island.
As for Mexico, the third wheel in this North American leviathan of a World Cup, the situation is ripe to explode. Just a mile away from Guadalajara’s Estadio Akron, due to host four matches, a burning bus could this week be seen blocking the road, with the killing of drug kingpin Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes setting off a wave of cartel-fuelled chaos.
Smoke rises in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, after violence broke out following Oseguera Cervantes’ death.Credit: EPA
FIFA maintains it is “closely monitoring” the violence. For Trump, who has made crushing the cartels a cornerstone of his border policy, it is an opportunity crying out to be exploited for political gain.
Typically, the co-opting of sport to burnish a regime is described as the exercise of soft power. Except there is nothing soft about Trump’s forays into the sporting realm in 2026, the 250th anniversary of the republic’s founding.
On June 14, he intends to mark this auspicious moment – one that neatly coincides with his own 80th birthday and the first week of the World Cup – by staging a cage fight on the White House’s South Lawn. How better, after all, to remember America’s fight for freedom from the British than to hold an actual fight at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?
Few ever imagined a sitting president would use the hub of executive power as a mixed martial arts venue. Then again, nobody expected one to spend £300m ($A570m) on renovating the East Wing ballroom.
‘How quaint to recall that the 2026 World Cup was sold, during the bid process in 2017, under the marketing banner “United”.’
Optics are everything to Trump. You sensed as much when he positioned himself front and centre for the Club World Cup trophy presentation last summer, to the point where Chelsea’s Reece James looked awkwardly at the gatecrasher-in-chief.
Now, Trump’s second term is adorned with the almost unheard-of double-header of a World Cup and Olympics on home soil. If nothing else, it allows him a seamless alignment with winners.
The man who once argued that John McCain was only a war hero “because he was captured – I like people who weren’t captured” has long espoused a pitiless logic about winning and losing. Win gold, as the ice hockey players have discovered, and you are garlanded with every ceremonial honour.
Take only bronze, as the US women’s football team found at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, and you will be held up by Trump as an illustration of how “everything that’s woke goes bad”. It is why a World Cup in his back garden threatens, at this febrile geopolitical juncture, to be the ultimate political powder keg.
Donald Trump at last year’s Club World Cup final.Credit: Getty Images
FIFA warned of World Cup ‘catastrophe’ as security concerns mount
FIFA has been warned that the World Cup is facing a “catastrophe” as host cities fight with the US government over frozen funding.
After cartel violence in neighbouring Mexico this week, headaches for FIFA and organising committees have deepened over warnings of a cash shortfall for US cities.
Kansas, where England will be based this summer, was among the World Cup host cities, warning US Congress of inadequate federal funding 100 days from kick-off.
California governor Gavin Newsom and President Donald Trump at Los Angeles International Airport last year.Credit: AP
A total £666m designated for the 11 host cities in the US has not been received, a US House Homeland Security Committee hearing was told.
Ray Martinez, chief operating officer of the Miami World Cup Host Committee, warned of events, such as fan zones, being further scaled back unless organisers receive £52m within the next month.
“We’re 107 days out from the tournament, but, more importantly, we’re about 70-something days out from starting to build the Fan Fest,” he said.
“These decisions have to be made. Without receiving this money, it could be catastrophic for our planning and coordination.”
A breakdown in relations between the cities and the federal government was cited as a primary cause of security preparations falling behind schedule.
Kansas City deputy chief of police Joseph Mabin said his department does not have enough staff to cover the city’s security needs.
Last November, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which is part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), launched a FIFA World Cup grant programme to help cities get ready for the tournament starting on June 11.
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The currently frozen fund was supposed to help “carry out the extensive security activities required to protect players, staff, attendees, venues and critical infrastructure across the host cities, strengthening them against potential terrorist attacks”.
Mabin said the release of the funding is “critical” for his city to hire additional personnel ahead of the World Cup. He suggested his local department did not have enough staff to cover all security threats. As well as being the location of England’s base camp, Kansas City will host six games.
The concerns come in the same week that drug cartel violence near Mexican host city Guadalajara heightened concerns about Mexico’s ability to secure its venues.
The White House World Cup Task Force was contacted for comment.
