JUMP TO:
- What did Donald Trump say about moving World Cup games?
- What did FIFA say about changing World Cup venues?
- Does U.S. government have power over FIFA for 2026 World Cup?
- World Cup hosting agreements
- 2026 World Cup host cities
- Has FIFA moved World Cup host locations before?
The 2026 FIFA World Cup promises to be one of the biggest sporting events the United States has ever hosted.
Starting on June 11 and running through July 19, the global soccer community will descend upon the North America to contest the world's most famous soccer tournament.
U.S. president Donald Trump has developed a close relationship with FIFA president Gianni Infantino, as the two were seen working closely together on the 2025 Club World Cup held in the United States one year prior to the main event.
However, Trump's threats to move World Cup venues as a political tool to put pressure on certain jurisdictions may not pack the punch he had intended.
The Sporting News explains whether he has the authority to move matches from one city to another and whether anything like that has happened before.
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What did Donald Trump say about moving World Cup games?
Speaking in late September prior to the World Cup draw, President Trump stated that he would consider moving matches at the 2026 competition from various cities he deemed to be unsafe for visitors.
"If I think it's not safe, we're going to move it out of that city," Trump said before going on a rant about crime in Illinois, which he blamed on the governor of the state.
"Any city we think is going to be even a little bit dangerous for the World Cup, or for the Olympics [in Los Angeles in 2028]... they play 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."
Trump threatens to move World Cup games out of blue cities due to "crime" pic.twitter.com/zXKyjL2Jx0
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 25, 2025
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What did FIFA say about changing World Cup venues?
Shortly after Trump's claims about potentially moving World Cup host cities, FIFA responded to state that the U.S. government cannot unilaterally relocate matches to different cities.
"It's FIFA's tournament, FIFA's jurisdiction, FIFA makes those decisions," said FIFA vice president Victor Montagliani to reporters a few days later while attending a sports business conference in London.
Montagliani, who is the president of CONCACAF — the confederation that governs football in North America, Central America, and the Caribbean — has been heavily involved in building the World Cup logistical structure, with all three host nations members of the confederation he helms.
"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," Montagliani said in an on-stage interview. "That's the beauty of our game, is that it is bigger than any individual and bigger than any country."
Kicking off The Summit at #LeadersWeekLondon:@FIFAcom Vice President Victor Montagliani on stage, tackling questions around the 2026 World Cup in the US. pic.twitter.com/B8FKID788p
— Leaders Business (@LeadersBiz) October 1, 2025
According to ESPN, the host cities and subsequent venues are contracted with FIFA to hold the events, and thus moving those games would be a titanic logistical and legal quagmire.
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Does U.S. government have power over FIFA for 2026 World Cup?
As Montagliani stated, the World Cup is a FIFA tournament, therefore FIFA has the authority to decide on venues and any changes to the schedule.
Given there are already contractual agreements in place between the sport's governing body and the host cities, it would be hugely complicated for the Trump administration to force through any changes.
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World Cup hosting agreements
Hosting agreements for the FIFA World Cup are legally binding once they have been ratified by all parties.
The process requires any country (or countries) wishing to host the tournament to submit an official bid to FIFA. The governing body then analyses this application and holds direct discussions with the bidders in question. FIFA then publishes an official valuation of the viability of the bid.
Should FIFA's hosting requirements be met, the bid officially comes under consideration, with the chosen host(s) for any tournament decided at a FIFA Congress.
More details on FIFA's processes can be found here.
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2026 World Cup host cities
As of the initial World Cup bid, there are 16 host cities for the 2026 tournament, 12 of which are in the United States.
USA host cities
- MetLife Stadium (East Rutherford, NJ)
- AT&T Stadium (Arlington, TX)
- NRG Stadium (Houston, TX)
- Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta, GA)
- SoFi Stadium (Inglewood, CA)
- Lumen Field (Seattle, WA)
- Levi's Stadium (Santa Clara, CA)
- Lincoln Financial Field (Philadelphia, PA)
- Hard Rock Stadium (Miami, FL)
- Gillette Stadium (Foxborough, MA)
Canada and Mexico host cities
- Estadio Azteca (Mexico City, Mexico)
- Estadio BBVA (Guadeloupe, Mexico)
- BC Place (Vancouver, Canada)
- BMO Field (Toronto, Canada)
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Has FIFA moved World Cup host locations before?
Matches have occasionally been moved during World Cup tournaments, although primarily for logistical reasons.
The 1962 World Cup in Chile had to undergo a complete redo of the planned schedule prior to the tournament as a result of the Valdivia earthquake, the strongest in recorded history, two years earlier. Several intended host stadia were severely damaged and had to be removed from the plans, and only four venues were used in the end.
In 1966, the group game between Uruguay and France was moved from Wembley Stadium to White City Stadium — a now-demolished venue built for the 1908 Summer Olympics — because the owner of Wembley refused to cancel a greyhound race scheduled for the same day.
At the 1990 finals in Italy, England were given the rare opportunity to request a specific venue for their group games. This was not an honor, though: the country's football association asked to stage its matches on the island of Sardinia because of the threat of hooliganism. It was feared that English fans in mainland Italy could lead to significant unrest.
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