United States President Donald Trump reiterated his threat to move 2026 World Cup matches from cities with Democratic mayors and crime problems during a news conference in conjunction with an Oval Office meeting of the White House’s FIFA Task Force on Monday, November 17.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino also did not completely rule out the possibility after a reporter asked Trump about Seattle’s new Democratic Socialist mayor-elect Katie Wilson, and whether her agenda and pre-existing crime issues there, could affect the city hosting six World Cup games at Lumen Field next year.
It prompted Trump to again suggest World Cup matches at United States venues could be changed if the administration is concerned about safety at the game site. He previously said he had the authority to move World Cup games from Boston last month.
“If we think there’s going to be a sign of any trouble, I would ask (Infantino) to move that to a different city,’ Trump said.
‘I don’t think we will have this problem, but we will move the event to some place it will be appreciated and safe,’ he added.
Trump also posed the hypothetical question directly to Infantino.
The FIFA president did not rule out the possibility of having to move a match for safety concerns, though he emphasized early ticket sales suggest fans are not concerned about safety and security at this point.
‘Safety and security are the No. 1 priority for a successful World Cup,’ Infantino said in response. ‘We can see today that people have trust in the United States and we see the ticket sales, tickets sold, are record-breaking. Almost 2 million sold already out of 2 million … because people, they know, they will be coming here and they will experience a safe and secure World Cup. It’s of course the responsibility of the government … and obviously we will, we will discuss, we are working together. We have a Task Force for this and we must ensure that all fans coming from abroad here can experience a celebration of coming together, of the sport, and this goes on with 100% safety.’
When asked a follow-up about the logistics of potentially moving a match and whether there was a deadline to do so, Trump called on local officials hosting World Cup matches to ask for federal help to ensure the safety around the games. He pointed specifically to the state of California and Governor Gavin Newsom. World Cup matches are scheduled to be played at SoFi Stadium outside Los Angeles and Levi’s Stadium in the Bay Area next summer.
“The governors are going to have to behave, the mayors are going to have to behave.’ Trump said ‘… I love Los Angeles. If they want help during this, I would love to send in National Guard or whoever is necessary during that. I want it to be great. I would love it to be in Los Angeles. I love the place. It’s a natural for Los Angeles. If we think there’s going to be crime, if we’re obstructed by the Governor – maybe he won’t obstruct, maybe he’ll be great – but I’d love for him to call and say could I have some extra help.’
‘Because if there’s even a hint of a problem, we want to get in there before the problem occurs,’ Trump continued. ‘We want to make it totally safe for … all of the great people that are going to be there, and I think it’s going to happen. I would be honored to help California if they’re going to have a problem. … We can be in there in 24 hours notice.’