October 15 – US President Donald Trump has said 2026 World Cup games could be removed from Boston over the city’s politics, the third city to be threatened by Trump. He said he’d call FIFA boss Gianni Infantino if he wanted to make it happen.
His remarks came at the end of a press conference with Argentina’s Javier Milei. “We could take them away,” Trump said of the games. “I love the people of Boston, and I know the games are sold out. But your mayor is not good.”
He previously also threatened Seattle and San Francisco. Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, is scheduled to host seven matches in the 2026 World Cup, a 48-team tournament that the United States will co-host with neighbours Canada and Mexico.
Trump said: “Their mayor is not good … she’s radical left, and they’re taking over parts of Boston. That’s a pretty big statement, right?”
“If someone is doing a bad job, and I feel there’s unsafe conditions, I would call Gianni [Infantino], the head of FIFA, who is phenomenal, and say let’s move it to another location. And he would do that. He wouldn’t love to do it, but he’d do it. Very easily, he’d do it.”
Infantino has built close ties to the US President. He attended Trump’s inauguration at the Capitol in Washington D.C. Infantino has also attended multiple events at the Oval Office, and invited Trump to present the Club World Cup trophy to Chelsea after the final. The football boss also arrived late at FIFA’s own congress having joined Trump on a trip to the Middle East.
Earlier this week, Infantino was an unexpected figure among the world leaders, heads of state and government politicians who had gathered at the Peace Summit in the Egyptian city of Sharm El Sheikh. He wrote on Instagram that he had been invited by Trump.
In September, Trump singled out Seattle and San Francisco, saying both cities were “run by radical left lunatics who don’t know what they’re doing.”
Days later, FIFA vice-president Victor Montagliani responded to Trump, emphasising this should be FIFA’s call. He said: “It’s FIFA’s tournament, FIFA’s jurisdiction, FIFA makes those decisions. With all due respect to current world leaders, football is bigger than them and football will survive their regime and their government and their slogans. That’s the beauty of our game, that it is bigger than any individual and bigger than any country.”
FIFA has been contacted for comment.
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