FIFA Won’t Move 2026 World Cup Matches Despite Trump Remarks

FIFA does not have plans to change match sites for next year’s World Cup in North America, despite invective from U.S. President Donald Trump regarding some host cities.

Last week, Trump suggested he could pull matches from some cities as a matter of public safety, with cities such as Atlanta, Seattle, and San Francisco among those that could be reconsidered.

“If I think it’s not safe, we’re going to move it out of that city,” Trump said. “If any city we think is going to be even a little bit dangerous for the World Cup … we won’t allow it to go.”

Trump’s comments arrived as he has unleashed the National Guard and other federal agents on several cities that will be World Cup match hosts, with plans for more. The situation has had a decidedly partisan bent as the Republican president goes after cities run by Democrats.

The global governing body, however, has reaffirmed that it is sticking with its host city plan first established in 2022, and any decisions to change would remain with FIFA. Specific games were assigned in February 2024. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has touted the upcoming final at MetLife Stadium in that state as something poised to be “the most-watched event in human history,” and the match placements are governed with a series of highly detailed contracts that include a temporary exclusion of established stadium names. 

Any movement at this point would introduce a lengthy series of logistical and legal complications. The situation grows more complex as FIFA, wherever it holds tournaments, relies on local and national governments for support on matters such as security and visa processing.

“It’s FIFA’s tournament, FIFA’s jurisdiction, FIFA makes those decisions,” said Victor Montagliani, the organization’s vice president, during a conference in London. “With all due respect to current world leaders, football is bigger than them and football will survive their regime and their government and their slogans. That’s the beauty of our game, that it is bigger than any individual and bigger than any country.”

Still, the comments represented a rare divide in a relationship between FIFA and Trump that has grown much closer in recent months. FIFA has an office in Trump Tower in New York, and recently held a high-profile meeting there to hear a proposal to expand the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams. FIFA president Gianni Infantino has also met numerous times at the White House with Trump.

The governing body, meanwhile, plans to hold the final draw for next year’s World Cup on Dec. 5 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and that venue is now under direct Trump control as he is its board chairman.