Donald Trump Pushes Radical 2026 World Cup Plan
Donald Trump has proposed a radical plan for the 2026 World Cup after being pressed on concerns over safety.
The United States are the main host country for next summer's World Cup, while Canada and Mexico will be the auxiliary hosts.
11 US cities are scheduled to host matches as they will stage 78 of the 104 fixtures, including the final - which takes place in New Jersey's MetLife Stadium.
The host cities in the US are Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New Jersey, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle.
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The stadiums include Dallas' impressive AT&T Stadium and the state-of-the-art Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
But cities risk losing their host status if Trump thinks they are unsafe.
The US president claims he will 'move it around' if he deems cities unsafe to stage a World Cup match.
Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump began by guaranteeing that the World Cup would be 'very secure', but then suggested he would intervene and strip host cities of fixtures.
A reporter name-dropped Seattle and San Francisco, which will host six games each, as cities that have pushed back against the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
"As you probably know, we’re going into Memphis and we’re going into some other cities. Very soon we’re going into Chicago. It will be safe for the World Cup. If I think it isn’t safe, we’ll move into a different city, absolutely. It’s actually a very fair question," he said.
"If I think it’s not safe, we’re going to move it out of that city. So if any city we think is going to be even a little bit dangerous for the World Cup, or for the (2028) Olympics, you know where they have Olympic overthrow right, but for the World Cup in particular, because they’re playing in so many cities, we won’t allow it. We’ll move it around a little bit. But I hope that’s not going to happen."
FIFA are in charge of organising the World Cup and selecting the host cities despite Trump's comments.
Any changes now or at a later stage, would seemingly present a logistical challenge.
However, it is unclear whether Trump has the power to switch the host cities, but given his relationship with FIFA president Gianni Infantino, he could be allowed to sanction such changes.
Infantino paid a visit to Trump at the White House after the American politician set up a task force to oversee the 2026 World Cup.
Topics: Donald Trump, FIFA World Cup, Football, US Sports
Nasir Jabbar