NEWNow you can listen to Pak Gazette articles!
Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter says soccer fans should avoid traveling to the United States for the 2026 World Cup this summer.
Blatter’s reasoning? His belief that international aggression and President Donald Trump’s nationwide immigration crackdown make it dangerous for fans traveling abroad.
Blatter cited Mark Pieth, an anti-corruption expert and law professor who oversaw the Independent Governance Committee during FIFA’s reform from 2013 to 2016. Pieth spoke to Swiss outlet Der Bund, where he told soccer fans: “Stay away from the United States!”
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON PakGazette.Com
FIFA President Sepp Blatter gestures during a press conference at FIFA headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, March 30, 2012. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)
“For fans there is only one advice: stay away from the United States!” “I think Mark Pieth is right to question this World Cup,” Blatter, 89, tweeted on Monday.
Pieth added in his interview: “You’ll see it better on TV anyway. And upon arrival, fans should expect that if the referees don’t like them, they’ll be put straight on the next flight home. If they’re lucky.”
The United States will co-host this year’s World Cup, as Mexico and Canada will host matches in the tournament that runs from June 11 to July 19. However, after the round of 16, all remaining matches will take place in the US.
Trump’s stance toward Greenland has led to a call to boycott the World Cup this summer from German soccer federation executive Oke Göttlich.
“I really wonder when it will be time to think and talk about this concretely,” Göttlich told the Hamburger Morgenpost newspaper about a possible boycott. “For me, that moment has definitely arrived.”
Trump recently said that a “framework for a future agreement” with NATO involving Greenland and the Arctic region has been discussed, which could ease tension in that regard.
From left to right; 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 draw at the Kennedy Center in Washington, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (Chris Carlson/AP Photo)
“Based on a very productive meeting I had with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, we have formed the framework for a future agreement regarding Greenland and, indeed, the entire Arctic region,” Trump wrote in Truth Social.
There is also criticism of ICE agents in American cities, specifically in Minneapolis, Minnesota, following the deaths of two American citizens as the crackdown on immigration continues.
Pieth also talked about that factor in his interview.
“The country itself is in a state of tremendous turmoil,” he said. “What we’re seeing nationally (the marginalization of political opponents, abuses by immigration authorities, etc.) doesn’t exactly entice a fan to travel there.
Pieth compared the “security situation” in the United States to that in Mexico, where drug cartels threaten violence before games in Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey. Pieth believes the United States has become “increasingly authoritarian.”
US President Donald Trump receives the FIFA Peace Prize from FIFA President Gianni Infantino during the official draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on December 5, 2025 in Washington, DC (Emilee Chinn/FIFA via Getty Images)
It is worth noting that Blatter was forced out of his position as FIFA president in 2015 following one of the biggest corruption scandals in sport involving wire fraud, extortion and money laundering.
Gianni Infantino took on the role of Blatter and has had a strong friendship with Trump.
The State Department also told Pak Gazette Digital exclusively that it will launch the FIFA Priority Appointment Scheduling 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.
Potential visa holders must be able to demonstrate that they qualify for a visa and plan to follow the laws of the United States, as well as leave the country once the tournament ends on July 19.
Trump spoke about FIFA Pass in November, saying the Departments of State and Homeland Security had been working “tirelessly” to “ensure that soccer fans around the world are properly vetted and can easily come to the United States next summer.”
In this Sept. 1, 2020, file photo, former FIFA President Sepp Blatter, center, appears in front of the Swiss Attorney General’s Office building in Bern, Switzerland. Former FIFA president Blatter spent a week in an induced coma after heart surgery in December, his family said on Thursday, January 21, 2021. (Peter Schneider/Keystone)
“I have directed my administration to do everything in its power to make the 2026 World Cup an unprecedented success. I believe it will be the biggest and we are setting records in ticket sales,” Trump said at the time.
Infantino said the organization expected “between 5 and 10 million people to come to the United States from… all over the world to enjoy the World Cup.”
