A year out from the World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico, host city Los Angeles is related to the deportation of Mexicans and other minorities, an ever-shifting trade war threatens relations between the three hosts and a travel ban will prevent some fans attending.
While the whims of make predictions perilous, fans, players and national teams must already start to make plans for one of sport’s biggest events, one secured in Trump’s first term when relations between the countires were much more harmonious.
The ongoing riots are an immediate safety concern for the in the USA, with set to meet Atletico Madrid in LA on the tournament’s opening day on June 15 while the same city will host the first US game of the 2026 World Cup on June 12, a day after the tournament opens in Mexico.
, which came in to effect on Monday, bars citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen from entering the US. An exception was made for “any athlete or member of an athletic team, including coaches, persons performing a necessary support role, and immediate relatives, traveling for the World Cup, Olympics, or other major sporting event as determined by the secretary of state” but not for fans. Iran have already qualified for the World Cup but currently fans would not be able to travel to support them in the USA.
Trump sees opportunity in sport
The same is not yet true for citizens of and . And for Andrew Zimbalist, Professor Emeritus of Economics at Smith College in the United States and author of “Circus Maximus: The Economic Gamble Behind Hosting the Olympics and the World Cup,” putting on a good show to burnish his own reputation is likely to be at the forefront of Trump’s mind.
“Mr. Trump has shown a willingness to make exceptions when there’s pressure. And I think further that Trump cares. He’s a sports fan. He cares about his international image. He cares about the attention that that will come to him when both the Club World Cup in 2025 and the real happen. These are photo opportunities for Trump to bask in in the game’s glory,” he told DW.
Zimbalist added that with Trump, things can always change quickly.
“There’s a tremendous amount of tension and a tremendous amount of uncertainty about how Mr. Trump will behave, and we never know.”
World Cup cohosts Canada and Mexico were, along with China, the first countries targeted in the evolving tariff war that began soon after Trump took office. Zimbalist doesn’t predict the uneasiness at governmental level will have a significant impact on the tournament, arguing that there will be enough fans prepared to travel for games that any discouraged from doing so will not be noticeable. He also believes that relatively new leaders in (Mexico, elected October 2024) and Mark Carney (Canada, elected March 2025) will not allow their countries to become marginalized.
“I think both with Carney in Canada and Scheinbaum in Mexico, that he has met his real enemy. These leaders are not bowing down to him, and they’re both very, very smart, very well prepared, and at the moment, are popular in their countries. And so they have the latitude to take on Trump.”
Mexican fans uncertain on match travel
Nevertheless, for Mexican fans in particular, traveling across the border to World Cup, or indeed Club World Cup games, in the USA is a fraught business.
“I don’t feel afraid to go to the United States but it feels little bit like going to someone else’s house where you are not welcome,” said Alan, a Pachuca fan talking to DW ahead of his team’s participation in the Club World Cup.
Other Pachuca fans complained that significant visa processing delays, some up to two years, meant they would have been unable to travel to support their team even without the current safety concerns.
“Appointments were delayed and then the president said that some Mexicans shouldn’t go there, I think that has a big influence on why they’re taking so long with the visas,” said Axel.
“I would feel a little unsafe around the police and everything government-related and that side of the United States.”
While demand for, and interest in, the World Cup will be on a different level to the revamped Club World Cup, which has proved controversial in some quarters, and stands may be filled with foreign nationals who live in any of the North American countries, it does seem like political relations will have some impact on fans, even if the stands will be full.
Canada and Mexico more able to stand up against Trump
While Canadians are not quite as central to the current events in LA, the USA’s northerly neighbors have been at loggerheads with the Trump administration. The Star Spangled Banner was booed at ice hockey games in Canada in recent months and Carney’s surprise election was partly ascribed to his willingness to take on Trump and his plan to make Canada the 51st state of the USA.
“Having met with the owners of Canada over the course of the campaign in the last several months, it’s not for sale. when the pair met in May in a meeting that was otherwise relatively cordial despite clear tensions.
For those hoping to plan a visit to, or participation in, the World Cup, judging the political mood – and the implications of changes in it – have become as important as waiting for results from qualifying.
“I could see it happening along the way that if Scheinbaum becomes a little bit more aggressive than Trump wants her to be, or challenges some of Trump’s immigration moves, that he would say: “You know what? I might not let Mexico participate in the World Cup, or I might not let this happen or that happen.’ So I can see threats like that, but I’d have to believe that they wouldn’t be carried out,” said Zimbalist, musing on what might play out in the next year but speaking ahead of the LA protests.
The Club World Cup, which starts on Saturday and is hosted solely by the USA, is perceived by some as a test of elements of the country’s readiness to host the World Cup. But the development or deterioration of relations between the three cohosts will be critical to next year’s tournament’s success.
Edited by: Chuck Penfold
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