Donald Trump Issues New Update on Moving Games at the 2026 World Cup
Donald Trump has provided a major update on whether games at the 2026 World Cup will be moved if the crime rate is deemed too high.
The draw for the 2026 showpiece took place on Friday evening at the Kennedy Center, with president Trump presented with the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize award by Gianni Infantino.
104 games will take place across North America - the United States, Mexico and Canada - as part of a revamped 48-team tournament.
There are 11 different host cities staging games in the US, with all nations to learn the full set of their locations and schedule during a live reveal on FIFA on Saturday.
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The semi-finals and finals will all take place - with East Rutherford, New Jersey, having the honour of hosting the biggest and most important games.
But Trump has gone on record to state that he would not hesitate to move fixtures from cities in the event that there is "high crime" - specifically mentioning Los Angeles, Boston and Seattle - all places under Democratic control.
Trump's stance on moving World Cup games
In response, FIFA chief Infantino said: “It’s of course the responsibility of the government ... and obviously we will, we will discuss, we are working together."
Refraining to confirm the stance, he added that "safety and security is the No. 1 priority for a successful World Cup".
"If we think there’s going to be any sign of any trouble, I would ask Gianni to move that to a different city," Trump, who has a taskforce for the World Cup.
"We have a lot of cities that would love to have it, No. 1, and we’ll do it very safely.”
After dancing to his adopted anthem the 'YMCA' by the Village People at the ceremony, Trump participated in a host of interviews and gave an update on whether games could be moved even at such lost notice with massive costs.
"No I don't want to do that but I will tell you if they do have a problem, by the time we get there, we'll take care of that problem," he told Fox News.
We can solve that problem.""I've proven that in D.C. and everywhere else we went and we'll take care of that very easily.
"If they have a problem hopefully they'll let us know that and we'll solve any problem."
The first game of the tournament will see Mexico host South Africa in an exciting game in Mexico City on 11 June, with the first on US soil seeing Mauricio Pochettino's men take on Paraguay at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood a day later.
Part of the Club World Cup trophy a year ago, Trump received a special medal and trophy when recognised by FIFA for their new gong - given out to an individual who has "helped to unite people all over the world in peace and consequently deserve a special and unique recognition".
Credited with helping “broker ceasefires and promote diplomatic engagements", Trump called it as “one of the great honours of my life” and claimed to have “saved millions and millions of lives" as a result of his efforts.
Topics: Donald Trump, FIFA World Cup, US Sports
Josh Lawless