The countdown to the 2026 World Cup will officially begin today, Friday, when FIFA holds the draw at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, to determine the groups of teams that will face each other and determine the matches of the qualifying teams. Expectation is maximum. Next year’s World Cup is scheduled to be the largest sporting event on the planet with the participation of 48 national teams. Never before have there been so many players in a World Cup. The United States, Mexico and Canada are organizing the tournament, which will be held in 16 cities, 11 American cities and the other five between their northern and southern neighbors.
US President Donald Trump wants to be the main protagonist. A year ago, immediately after winning the election for his second term in the White House, he formed a working group (Task Force) with key members of his government and senior FIFA executives to try to coordinate logistical and security challenges. But in recent months, Trump has tightened immigration policies to the limit, which appears to scare away some of the thousands of fans who want to travel to the country to enjoy soccer for the national team.
The White House representative for the working group with FIFA, Andrew Giuliani, the son of the former New York mayor and Trump’s lawyer, wanted to allay these concerns among citizens who buy FIFA tickets. He also stressed that the United States is making a great effort to reduce the visa time for fans who buy a ticket to the World Cup.
But he admitted that he did not rule out raids and arrests of immigrants during the tournament. “One thing is clear, and I’ve known the president for 25 years, that the president is not ruling out anything that would help American citizens be safer,” Giuliani said Wednesday. He added to a large group of reporters: “The president has confirmed that he wants people to go through this process legally in the United States. And I know that the Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, has confirmed that people who are in this country illegally are taking advantage of the system so that they can leave with $1,000.”
Visas
Immigration and security are among the policy themes of Trump’s second term. The Republican mixes the two sciences in his speeches, in which he reaches a loud, anti-foreign tone. But Giuliani, the young man, prefers to ignore it: “We want to welcome the world that comes here legally. That way we can also identify who is here and make it safer, not only for American citizens, but also for the millions of international visitors who will come here.”
For Spain and key European countries, which already have a diplomatic cooperation agreement with the United States, the document known as ESTA, the Electronic System for Travel Authorization to the United States, will be useful. A small visa exemption form used for visits of up to 90 days primarily for tourism purposes.
A White House representative explained that Trump sees the simplification of visas for football fans, only if they hold a FIFA ticket, “as an invitation to the United States of America on the occasion of our 250th birthday, and for a great moment in the history of our country.”
Political tensions
Tightening immigration policies in the United States make it difficult for citizens of many countries to enter the country. After the attack on the National Guard last week, Trump ordered a ban on entry visas to 19 “third world” countries. So we’ll have to wait for the White House’s decision to see if there are any new countries affected. For now, the restrictions will certainly be fans of Iran and Haiti, both of whom have qualified for the final stage.
In principle, athletes are members Staff Union, in addition to basic support staff, such as masseuses, nutritionists, etc., as well as to guide family members. The rest of the fans will have a hard time enjoying the match live. “Every visa decision is, first and foremost, a national security decision (…) and it is the president’s responsibility to make sure that he protects not only the American citizens who are here, but all international travelers coming to participate in the World Cup.” He added: “As I said in my opening statements, if someone comes here to cause trouble, the tolerance for that is very limited, and we will make sure that we do everything we can to review them before they arrive in the United States.”
Ticket prices
However, tickets are not exactly cheap. Group stage tickets will range from $60, but the most expensive tickets for the final can cost up to $6,750; Even more so thanks to FIFA’s “Dynamic Pricing” system. The new mayor of New York, Zahran Mamdani, previously called on the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) to reduce match prices for residents of the stadiums where the tournament is held.
In this regard, FIFA decided to abandon the widespread use of dynamic prices, which vary according to demand in each match. The organization confirmed that it will reserve ticket shares at fixed prices for some specific categories of fans, especially followers of the federations competing in the World Cup. Each association will receive 8% of the tickets for each match in which its team plays. The prices of the remaining tickets will be subject to demand.
In response to a question about the difference between the next World Cup, which will be held in 2026, and the one hosted by the United States in 1994, Giuliani said: “Obviously, the ’94 World Cup had only 24 teams. Now we have 48 teams. I mean, when we say this will be the biggest sporting event in the history of mankind, it is the first time an entire continent has come together to host a World Cup: twice as many teams, three times as many countries between Canada and Mexico.” OK.” The White House delegate for the World Cup explained the previous work they had done in security and the threats they had analyzed at all major international sporting competitions since then.
He pointed out: “We learned a lot from 1994, and we also learned a lot from organizing the 2002 Olympic Games, and we continue to analyze what Qatar did and what others who recently hosted the World Cup did. Others like us mentioned the International Center for Police Cooperation, which we learned from FIFA through Germany and the European Cup in 2024.”
Trump’s lawyer’s son highlighted the growing popularity of football in the United States. “If you look at the World Cup finals audience, you know it was hundreds, many, hundreds of millions in the 1990s and early 2000s. That number now stands at 1.5 billion. And it’s expected that there will be 2 billion people watching the final in this World Cup. So, that’s not just growing in the United States, where it’s probably growing as a percentage more than anywhere else, but it’s growing in the rest of the world.”