Donald Trump has again said he will pressure Fifa to pull 2026 World Cup matches from a host city based on that city’s politics, with Boston becoming the third such city to face threats from the US president. Trump also said he would consider similar action against Los Angeles for the 2028 Olympics due to potential security concerns.
Trump has no legal authority to take either action directly, but he can pressure each competition’s governing body to move host cities.
His comments came during a news conference with Argentine President Javier Milei, who was visiting the White House after announcing a $20 billion bailout for the South American country. Toward the end of the event, a reporter asked Trump about a recent “street takeover” in Boston in which police officers were attacked and a police car set on fire, and whether concerns raised by the incident could lead to the revocation of hosting duties for next year’s expanded 48-team soccer tournament. The reporter also asked if Trump would work with Michelle Wu, the mayor of Boston, to resolve this issue.
“We could take them out,” Trump said of the World Cup matches, which are scheduled to be played at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, about 22 miles southwest of Boston. “Their mayor is no good…she’s radical left and they’re taking over parts of Boston. That’s a pretty big statement, isn’t it?”
Street takeovers, a social media-fueled phenomenon that sees large crowds of people gather on city streets late at night to perform car stunts, have been a repeated nuisance in American cities since shutdowns due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Recent such gatherings have turned violent in Massachusetts, including in Boston. However, these gatherings are generally not seen as linked to a particular political ideology.
“If someone is doing a bad job and I feel the conditions are not safe, I would call Gianni (Infantino), the head of Fifa, who is phenomenal, and tell him to move it to another place,” Trump said Tuesday. “And he would do that. He wouldn’t like to do it, but he would do it. Very easily, he would do it.”
Infantino has made no secret of his efforts to publicly align himself with Trump ahead of next year’s tournament, which is scheduled to take place in 11 cities across the United States, as well as two in Canada and three in Mexico. The FIFA president has appeared at several Oval Office events, asked Trump to present the Club World Cup trophy to Chelsea after that tournament’s final (during which the US president overstayed his welcome while raising the trophy), and even delayed his own organization’s convention in order to accompany Trump on a trip to the Middle East earlier in 2025.
Most recently, Infantino surfaced in Egypt alongside Trump for the Gaza summit. The FIFA Club World Cup trophy and the FIFA Men’s World Cup trophy, gifts from Infantino, have both found a seemingly permanent place in Trump’s Oval Office decor.
That didn’t stop Trump from threatening to pull World Cup games from other U.S. host cities. On September 25, Seattle and San Francisco were in his crosshairs, with Trump claiming that both cities were “run by radical left-wing lunatics who don’t know what they’re doing,” while criticizing both cities’ security levels and saying the games could be canceled.
after newsletter promotion
Fifa vice-president Victor Monatgliani refuted Trump’s claims when he responded days later at a conference in London.
“It’s Fifa’s tournament, Fifa’s jurisdiction, Fifa makes these decisions,” Montagliani said. “With all due respect to the current world leaders, football is bigger than them and football will survive their regime, their government and their slogans. That is the beauty of our game, that it is bigger than any individual and bigger than any country.”
On Tuesday, Trump’s response to a question about Boston morphed into a similar threat to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
“If I thought Los Angeles wasn’t going to be prepared properly, I would move it somewhere else if I had to,” he said. “On this one, I would probably have to get another type of permission, but we would.” »
The authorization Trump is referring to would have to go through the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Their president, Kirsty Coventry, was elected to her position in March and has yet to make a public appearance with Trump, although she has said she would like to sit down with him at some point.
Trump also criticized California Governor Gavin Newsom’s handling of the Los Angeles wildfires this year, saying a similar situation could lead to the Games being scrapped.
“If he doesn’t play ball, we’re going to have to be really tough,” Trump said.
His message was just as clear for Boston.
“Boston better clean up its act,” he said. “That’s all I can say.”
A new MacBook Pro is "coming soon," according to a social media post from Greg "Joz" Joswiak on Tuesday. The…
ORANGE COUNTY, Florida. – A body was reported near Disney World Tuesday evening, according to data from the Orange County…
SpaceX has completed its eleventh integrated flight test of Starship, marking another step forward in the development of the world's…
His mortal remains were taken to his home in Khadpabanch, Ponda, where thousands of people were said to have gathered…
OpenAI plans to allow a wider range of content, including erotica, on its popular chatbot ChatGPT as part of its…
MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Brewers used the slogan "Magic Brew" as their slogan for their playoff series.Tuesday night, the Dodgers…