{"id":432589,"date":"2026-01-27T10:51:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T10:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/432589\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T10:51:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T10:51:09","slug":"removing-the-us-as-world-cup-host-would-be-eminently-sad-and-entirely-justified-world-cup-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/432589\/","title":{"rendered":"Removing the US as World Cup host would be eminently sad \u2013 and entirely justified | World Cup 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Removing the United States as co-host of the 2026 World Cup<\/a> would hurt for pretty much everyone. Fans would miss out on seeing the sport\u2019s pinnacle in their home towns (or somewhere nearby). Cities and businesses small and large would lose the financial benefits they had banked on. It would be a logistical and political nightmare on an international scale, the likes of which have never been seen before in sports. It would be eminently sad. And it would be entirely justified.<\/p>\n

It brings me no pleasure to say this. The United States has been eager to host a men\u2019s World Cup for more than a decade and a half. The desire survived and even grew after 2010\u2019s failure to out-bid Russia and Qatar (in public and behind closed doors) for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. With hosting rights for 2026 later secured alongside Canada and Mexico, the US soccer scene prepared to show off that the sport is now part of the nation\u2019s fabric, 32 years after hosting the tournament for the first time in 1994. Soccer\u2019s growing popularity in America has helped inspire other US sports<\/a> to try new formats, encouraged us to engage more fully with the world in a sporting context, and has been at the center of conversations about our society and culture. The 2026 World Cup was seen as the best chance for the world to fully experience not just how much the US has improved at soccer, but how much soccer has improved the US.<\/p>\n

I have not been immune to this Pollyannaish outlook. Much of my career covering American soccer has been predicated on the idea that the sport will continue to grow in the US. The 2026 World Cup is central to that hope. I can admit that I have a vested interest in this tournament\u2019s success. As a lifelong fan, the World Cup landing here was a dream come true. As a professional, I hoped it would create millions of new North American soccer fans who will want to read and watch and listen to journalism about the sport for the rest of their lives.<\/p>\n

Perhaps I was naive. The tournament may create some of those fans, but at what cost? Exorbitant ticket prices<\/a> have cut out<\/a> the game\u2019s grassroots<\/a>. Onerous demands<\/a> on cities have siphoned public money. Fifa has boosted<\/a> an openly corrupt administration<\/a> at every turn. Now wanton federal violence<\/a> has made it difficult to justify having the World Cup here at all. Safety, justice, freedom, the continued functioning of society \u2013 these are all under threat. Even to many soccer fans in the US, the game once called \u201cthe most important of the least important things\u201d now seems just plain unimportant.<\/p>\n

Federal agents have killed two innocent people<\/a> in Minneapolis in the last three weeks. Neither was threatening the paramilitary forces who shot them. We know these things because we have seen them play out on video after sickening video, from multiple angles, slowed down and refocused and analysed. Yet the most senior governmental figures want us to believe that Renee Good and Alex Pretti were \u201cdomestic terrorists\u201d. That they were, in fact the aggressors \u2013 in cold contrast to the mountain of available evidence. It would be reasonable to assume that those who disregard the truth so blatantly can also not be trusted to host a safe and secure World Cup.<\/p>\n

And then there is the wider picture. Thirty-two people died<\/a> in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody in 2025 alone. The Trace<\/a>, a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to tracking US gun violence, reports that immigration officers shot at people 19 times since the start of the crackdown \u2013 figures it assumes are an undercount. These include three killings in 2025, now up to at least five with the Minnesota deaths. Donald Trump\u2019s immigration crackdown has resulted in more detentions of people with no criminal record<\/a> than any other category \u2013 despite its stated aim of ridding the country of criminals and claimed successes in doing so. The raids resulting in all of this have largely targeted Democratic-leaning metro areas \u2013 which 10 of the 11 US World Cup host cities are (the Dallas metroplex being the one outlier). Yet \u201cthe most important message that football can convey right now is one of peace and unity,\u201d Fifa president Gianni Infantino said last year.<\/p>\n

Gianni Infantino holds the World Cup trophy as he attends the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos. Photograph: Denis Balibouse\/Reuters<\/p>\n

How can soccer do that when its showpiece event is in a country led by an administration intent on division? A country that has captured a foreign leader, possibly in violation of international law<\/a>. A country that has threatened supposed allies<\/a> with military action over control of a foreign territory. A country that has picked seemingly endless fights, including with its World Cup cohosts \u2013 the very countries it\u2019s meant to be standing alongside and welcoming the world\u2019s soccer fans.<\/p>\n

Are these the actions of a safe country, prepared to handle an influx of foreign visitors? Is this the kind of place you\u2019d expect someone would want to spend many thousands of dollars to visit, even before they\u2019ve ponied up for the games themselves? I can\u2019t believe I\u2019m about to say this, but I sympathise with Sepp Blatter<\/a> on this one.<\/p>\n

There have been discussions of a boycott<\/a> in some form; a mild clamor, if that. If that actually happens among enough countries, Fifa\u2019s hand could be forced. But as justified as that would be, that\u2019s hard to even imagine. Holding World Cups in autocratic or destructive countries is nothing new. A boycott would mean revenue lost and a schedule that will be near-impossible to reconfigure. And there\u2019s a feeling at soccer\u2019s highest levels that, no matter which government Fifa cosies up to, the sport itself will escape unscathed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith all due respect to current world leaders, football is bigger than them,\u201d Concacaf president Victor Montagliani said last year at a conference. \u201cFootball will survive their regime and their government and their slogans.\u201d<\/p>\n

But in the meantime, football\u2019s main event is at least partly under this administration\u2019s control. Trump himself said last year<\/a> that if cities are deemed to be too dangerous, or otherwise unfit for hosting, \u201cWe\u2019re going to move the event to some place where it\u2019s going to be appreciated and safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump, of course, meant moving World Cup matches to other US cities. But it would be hard to argue if the World Cup was moved out of the US entirely.<\/p>\n

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters<\/a> section, please click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Removing the United States as co-host of the 2026 World Cup would hurt for pretty much everyone. Fans…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432590,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-432589","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-united-states-of-america","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","14":"tag-us","15":"tag-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432589\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}