Europe’s top soccer official said that the United States’ hopes of hosting the World Cup in 2026 will be damaged, perhaps critically, if President Donald Trump’s travel restrictions come into full force.
Aleksander Ceferin, installed last year as president of UEFA, the sport’s governing body in Europe, said measures that might prevent players, fans or journalists from attending the event would count against any bid. The United States is a clear favorite to be awarded the 2026 tournament, either on its own or as part of a joint North American bid with Mexico and Canada, NY Times reported.
But in an interview at UEFA’s headquarters last week, Ceferin said immigration policy would be among the areas considered during the evaluation of a United States bid, and he suggested that it would “not help” if Trump succeeded in placing harsher restrictions on travel to the United States from certain countries in the near term.
Though Trump’s initial 90-day ban on immigration and travel from seven Muslim-majority countries was overturned by a federal court, he has vowed to introduce a second executive order that could limit travel from those nations, at least temporarily.
“It will be part of the evaluation, and I am sure it will not help the United States to get the World Cup,” Ceferin stated, adding that “If players cannot come because of political decisions, or populist decisions, then the World Cup cannot be played there. It is true for the United States, but also for all the other countries that would like to organize a World Cup."
“It is the same for the fans, and the journalists, of course. It is the World Cup. They should be able to attend the event, whatever their nationality is. But let’s hope that it does not happen,” he underlined.
Ceferin’s warning is significant; in addition to his position leading European soccer, he is a vice president of FIFA, world soccer’s governing body and the organizer of the World Cup. Bids for the 2026 tournament must be submitted by December 2018, before the start of a 13-month evaluation phase. FIFA will choose the host at a congress in May 2020.
