United States President Donald Trump suggested that some matches at the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States could be moved to other cities, saying, “If I think it’s not safe, we’re going to move it out of that city.”
Trump addressed reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday and initially said that the World Cup cities would be “very secure” before going on to cast doubt on potential host cities that have pushed back against his policies regarding immigration and other issues.
“They’re run by radical left lunatics and that don’t know what they’re doing,” Trump told a reporter who mentioned World Cup host cities Seattle and San Diego, which will each host six games, and have local and state governments that have pushed back against Trump’s proposed policies.
“It will be safe for the World Cup. If I think it isn’t safe, we’ll move it to a different city. Absolutely… it’s actually a very fair question. If I think it’s not safe, we’re going to move it out of that city.”
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The 48-team World Cup will be held across 11 cities in the U.S., as well as three cities in Mexico and two in Canada. Although Chicago, Memphis and Washington, D.C. are not among the American host cities, all three were central to Trump’s answer, as he addressed safety following his deployment of the National Guard in Washington, D.C., in August.
“As you probably know, we’re going into Memphis, and we’re going into some other cities, and very soon we’re going to go into Chicago. It will be safe for the World Cup,” he said.
“If I think it’s not safe, we’re going to move it out of that city. So if any city we think is going to be even a little bit dangerous for the World Cup, or for the (2028) Olympics, you know where they have Olympic overthrow right, but for the World Cup in particular, because they’re playing in so many cities, we won’t allow it. We’ll move it around a little bit. But I hope that’s not going to happen.”
It remains unclear how or when matches would be decided to be moved to other cities, but an answer could become clearer following the FIFA World Cup draw on Dec. 5 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
Sports Illustrated‘s request for comment to FIFA and the governments of Canada and Mexico was not immediately responded to.
Trump’s focus on the World Cup is solely on the American cities. However, other World Cup host cities have reached out to FIFA regarding the possibility of welcoming more matches, should any need to be relocated.
Should matches be relocated, Vancouver, Canada, which is set to host seven games up to the Round of 16, is ready to welcome further matches.
“Additional games in British Columbia would not only be possible, but they would be incredibly welcome,” the Premier of the province of British Columbia told reporters. “We’ve actually written to FIFA to say if, for whatever reason, they need to move games from any other locations, British Columbia stands ready to host,” he added.
“We can move quickly. We have an amazing team and we are ready to host additional games here in this beautiful province.”
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