Ex-FIFA president tells fans avoid 2026 World Cup over Trump policies

Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter said football fans should avoid traveling to the United States for the 2026 World Cup this summer.

Blatter’s logic? His belief that President Donald Trump’s international aggression across the country and his crackdown on immigrants has made it dangerous for fans traveling abroad.

Blatter cited Mark Pieth, an anti-corruption expert and law professor who oversaw FIFA’s Independent Governance Committee during its 2013-16 reform. Pieth spoke to the Swiss outlet Der Bund“Stay away from the USA!” to football fans.

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“There is only one advice to the fans: Stay away from the USA!” I think Mark Pieth is right to question this World Cup,” the 89-year-old Blatter tweeted on Monday.

Pieth added in his interview: “You’ll see it better on TV anyway. And fans should expect that if they don’t please the authorities when they arrive, they’ll be put on the next flight straight home. If they’re lucky.”

The USA will host the World Cup, which will take place between June 11 and July 19, with Mexico and Canada participating. However, after the Round of 16, all remaining matches will be held in the USA.

Trump’s stance on Greenland led German football federation chief Oke Göttlich to call for a boycott of this summer’s World Cup.

“I really wonder when it will be time to think and talk about this concretely,” Göttlich told the Hamburger Morgenpost newspaper about a potential boycott. “That time has definitely come for me.”

Trump recently said that a “future agreement framework” covering Greenland and the Arctic region was being discussed with NATO, and that this could reduce tensions in this regard.

From the left; FIFA President Gianni Infantino takes a selfie with President Donald Trump, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney during the 2026 World Cup draws at the Kennedy Center in Washington on Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (Chris Carlson/AP Photo)

“Based on my very productive conversation with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, we have established the framework for a future agreement on Greenland and indeed the entire Arctic Region,” Trump said. Wrote at Truth Social.

While the crackdown on immigrants continues, there is also criticism of ICE agents in US cities, especially Minneapolis, Minnesota, following the deaths of two US citizens.

Pieth also touched on this factor in his interview.

“The country is in tremendous turmoil,” he said. “What we are witnessing domestically (marginalization of political opponents, abuses by immigration officials, etc.) is hardly convincing a fan to travel there.

Pieth likened the U.S. “security situation” to Mexico, where drug cartels threatened violence ahead of matches in Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey. Pieth believes the United States is “becoming increasingly authoritarian.”

U.S. President Donald Trump receives the FIFA Peace Prize from FIFA President Gianni Infantino during the Official Draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup held at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC on December 5, 2025. (Emilee Chinn/FIFA via Getty Images)

It is worth noting that Blatter was forced to step down as FIFA president in 2015 following one of the biggest corruption scandals in sport, which involved wire fraud, blackmail and money laundering.

Gianni Infantino took over Blatter’s role and Blatter has a strong friendship with Trump.

The State Department also told Fox News Digital exclusively that it will launch the FIFA Priority Appointment Program System, or FIFA PASS, which will give World Cup ticket holders the opportunity to access priority visa appointments before the tournament begins on June 11.

Prospective visa holders must demonstrate that they qualify for a visa and plan to leave the country when the tournament ends on July 19, in addition to planning to comply with laws in the United States.

Trump spoke about FIFA Pass in November, saying the Departments of State and Homeland Security were working “tirelessly to ensure that football fans from around the world are properly vetted and can easily come to the United States next summer.”

In this September 1, 2020 file photo, former FIFA President Sepp Blatter (center) appears in front of the Swiss Attorney General’s Office building in Bern, Switzerland. His family said in a statement on Thursday, January 21, 2021 that former FIFA president Blatter remained in a coma for a week after the heart surgery he had in December. (Peter Schneider/Keystone)

Trump said at the time: “I have instructed my administration to do everything in its power to make the 2026 World Cup an unprecedented success. I think it will be for the best, and we are breaking records in ticket sales.”

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Infantino said the organization expects “5 to 10 million people from around the world to come to America to enjoy the World Cup.”

Fox News’ Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report.

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