wrote on X.<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019ve just been told I can\u2019t travel with my children because my ESTA was denied,\u201d Capdevila said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cCan anyone help me with this?\u201d he pleaded. \u201cYou have no idea how excited I was to be there with all my 2010 teammates and this squad to cheer them on.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI NEED HELP, @realDonaldTrump!\u201d Capdevila wrote on X Friday. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t believe I\u2019m not allowed into the USA and that I\u2019ll miss out on a moment like this with my children \u2014 we love football so much.\u201d<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t clear exactly who ordred the quick reversal on Capdevila\u2019s visa. <\/p>\n
ESTA, short for Electronic System for Travel Authorization, allows citizens of 42 countries, including Spain, to enter the US for up to 90 days without a visa.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, countries like Iran can trigger a denial from immigration officers.<\/p>\n
The Spanish national, who played 15 seasons in La Liga, told media outlets in his home country that he believed the decision to ban his entry into the US was linked to his appearance in a game between former La Liga players and an Iranian team in Tehran in 2016.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Spanish legend told local media outlets his denial was linked to a 2016 match he played with La Liga against an Iranian team. Getty Images<\/p>\n
Ahead of the 2026 World Cup hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico, the US tightened entry requirements for some foreign visitors.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Foreign visitors traveling to World Cup matches must meet existing US entry requirements, including obtaining ESTA approval through the Visa Waiver Program or securing a visitor visa if required.<\/p>\n
Additional reporting by Ella Morrison<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The former player on Spain\u2019s only World Cup-winning team who was denied a non-visa entry to the US…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":771753,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[7425,12,801,52018,5871,403,3662,264563,99,194,84938,153412],"class_list":["post-771752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-athletes","tag-donald-trump","tag-iran","tag-metlife-stadium","tag-metro","tag-soccer","tag-spain","tag-spain-soccer","tag-sports","tag-us-news","tag-world-cup","tag-world-cup-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771752","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=771752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/771753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=771752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=771752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=771752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}