The 11 U.S. World Cup host cities are close to getting hundreds of millions of dollars in federal security funding, but exactly when they’ll get that money remains uncertain.
Last week, President Donald Trump met with his World Cup Task Force head Andrew Giuliani and FIFA President Gianni Infantino, when the three appeared to clear the funding impasse. On March 12, Politico first reported that Giuliani told host cities the day prior that the Department of Homeland Security had approved the funding, meaning cities “can count on receiving their share,” the outlet wrote. On March 13, Rep. Mark Alford (R., M.O.) issued a press release saying DHS “has begun releasing” the funds.
Yet, on Monday, several stakeholders told Front Office Sports they still haven’t received the funding, and they’re unclear about when it will come through.
A spokesperson for Kansas City’s World Cup host committee tells FOS they were told the $625 million “has been released.”
“Our understanding is that there is a brief congressional notification process underway now, after which the funds will be formally awarded,” the KC2026 spokesperson says. “Once that process is complete, we expect to have more to share later this week or early next week.”
A statement provided to FOS attributed to Dan Corso, the president of Atlanta’s World Cup Host Committee, had similar language about a “brief” congressional process happening now, after which host committees would get the funding. A spokesperson for Rep. Nellie Pou (D., N.J.) tells FOS: “We typically receive the notification as the money goes out, but you never know with this admin.”
A spokesperson for the Kansas City Police Department tells FOS it “has not received any funds nor a timeline.”
In South Florida, a spokesperson for the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office says: “At this time, we are awaiting grant funding, however, we do not have an anticipated date.”
In Dallas, a spokesperson for the host committee says: “We don’t have any information to give you at this time.”
It’s not consistent across cities who is best equipped to answer questions about the funding grants. Host committees tend to be tight-lipped. In Philadelphia, the police department directed questions to the city, who declined to comment. In Kansas City, the city directed questions to the police department, who then pointed to the host committee.
The trickle down of funding also varies by host city. The KCPD spokesperson says the FEMA grant will go to the city’s host committee, while the city of Philadelphia says a state agency is the main applicant.
DHS has not responded to requests for comment. A spokesperson for the World Cup task force tells FOS they have “no updates on this at this time,” but says that the funding will come from reimbursements rather than upfront payments.
Hundreds of Millions for World Cup Cities
Trump set aside $625 million for tournament security in his One Big Beautiful Bill Act last summer, and FEMA added an additional $250 million for policing drones at the FIFA tournament and America250 celebrations. That funding did not arrive by an internal Jan. 30 deadline, and has been held up during a partial DHS shutdown since Feb. 14. Several local officials and tournament hosts have made calls to have the money distributed as soon as possible.
Earlier this month, it looked like the World Cup funding might be held up as long as the DHS shutdown continued. A FEMA spokesperson told FOS in a statement on March 6: “Because of the funding lapse, FEMA’s grants management system is not operational and significant portions of FEMA’s workforce have been furloughed. Only limited, exempt staff can continue restricted work, and overall grant processing capacity is materially reduced. Delays in appropriations directly affect DHS’s ability to finalize awards and support host jurisdictions. DHS stands ready to resume full operations immediately once Congress restores funding.”
The city of Foxborough, Mass., fought to get their $7.8 million in security funding for matches at Gillette Stadium covered upfront rather than reimbursed, and last week got that guarantee from the Boston host committee, backed by Robert Kraft.
Rep. Pou, who sits on the House Homeland Security committee and represents the district that will hold the World Cup final in July, told FOS earlier this month that she believed DHS was “100%” withholding the funds “for political reasons,” and said the grants could still be distributed despite the shutdown.
“Secretary [Kristi] Noem is saying she isn’t releasing them because of funding impasse,” Pou said. “That is absolutely not true.” (Noem was fired on March 5, two days after the interview with Pou.)
The spokesperson for Pou tells FOS that they understand the money hasn’t gone out yet, but should soon.
