Copyright stabroeknews
On 13 June, 2018, at the 68th FIFA Congress in Moscow, the 2026 FIFA World Cup was awarded to the joint bid from the United States of America (USA), Canada and Mexico. It is the first time that three countries were chosen to host the tournament, which has been expanded from 32 to 48 teams. The competition will run from 11th June to July 19th, and the 104 scheduled matches will take place across 16 cities. The USA, the main host, will stage 78 matches spread across 11 cities, namely, Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle. In Mexico, games will be held in Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey, while Toronto and Vancouver were selected as the Canadian venues. Once the host country – countries, on this occasion – has been chosen years of detailed planning and execution are required to stage the world’s biggest sporting event. The exhaustive list of preparations include, government level guarantees, meeting FIFA’s demanding standards for infrastructure and stadia, the booking of hotel accomodations for teams, officials, and the media, negotiating massive sponsorship and insurance deals, the selling of broadcasting rights, the organising of transportation for the teams, and the compilation and execution of comprehensive security plans. These details are all intricately linked and must coordinate with a clockwork like precision once the tournament kicks off. Disruptions are to be kept to an absolute minimum, major ones avoided at all costs. Today, with the plans for the 2026 World Cup virtually complete, FIFA has encountered a variable like no other; Donald J Trump, the President of the USA, a loose cannon, if there ever was one. Speaking to reporters in the White House on 25th September, Trump declared, “ If any city we think is going to be even a little bit dangerous for the World Cup, or for the Olympics [scheduled for Los Angeles in 2028], but for the World Cup in particular, because they’re playing in so many cities, we won’t allow it to go. We’ll move it around a little bit.” Trump was openly critical of the cities of Los Angeles, Boston and Philadelphia. He singled out Seattle and San Francisco, hosts of six matches each respectively, as being “ run by radical left lunatics who didn’t know what they were doing”. Trump’s blatant political interjection to FIFA’s exclusive domain of venue selection based upon their own stringent criteria, created headlines around the world. On 2nd October, at the Leaders Week London at the Allianz Stadium, FIFA Vice President Victor Montagliani, when asked about Trump’s statement, replied, “It’s FIFA’s tournament, FIFA’s jurisdiction, FIFA makes those decisions.” He further noted, “With all due respect to current world leaders, football is bigger than them, and football will survive their regime, their government, their slogans.” No doubt that Montagliani has now been added to Trump’s ever growing list of enemies, and he should not be surprised if his US visa is revoked. The situation is further complicated by the fact that FIFA President Gianni Infantino has cultivated a close bond with Trump since 2020. Infantino, who Trump described him as “probably the most respected man in sports,” has made several public appearances with him over the years. The highly anticipated draw for next year’s World Cup was expected to take place in Las Vegas – a natural backdrop for all the glitz and glamour – as happened for the 1994 World Cup, which was hosted solely by the USA. However, Trump has convinced Infantino to stage the event at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. on 5th December. Infantino – who may now be silently regretting his friendship with Trump – and FIFA have found themselves in a very awkward position. FIFA has always proudly maintained its political independence and is now intertwined with a leader with no regards whatsoever for behavioural norms. Trump’s blatant disrespect for the law, institutions, traditions and protocol continues to expand since his return to the Oval Office, and he has repeatedly demonstrated that his personal agenda is the only matter of importance. What will FIFA do, if on the eve of the tournament, Trump has (or creates) a dispute with the head of the country of one of the qualifying teams, and declares that neither their team nor their supporters will not be allowed into the USA? It sounds farfetched at the moment, but, as we are all well aware, Trump is quite capable of doing or saying whatever he pleases whenever it suits him. Just as Adolf Hitler utilised the 1936 Olympics to send a message to the world, it is a certainty that Trump will not let an opportunity of six weeks on the world’s global stage slip by without seizing the moment to demonstrate to the world who is really ‘running things.’ Let’s hope that FIFA is making contingency plans for all possible scenarios, since they are most likely going to need them.
