One of the many issues surrounding the 2026 FIFA World Cup is the possibility that the Donald Trump administration will withdraw certain host cities on the grounds that they are unsafe. Over the past couple of months, the Republican has openly entertained the idea of removing the World Cup from cities such as Boston, San Francisco and Seattle, even though all of them have already signed their Host City contracts with FIFA and spent millions preparing for the world’s biggest football event.

Now, ahead of the draw at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Trump has again raised the threat, which would place FIFA and the United States World Cup Organising Committee in a difficult position. This time, however, he appeared to soften his stance: it is not a done deal, and he said he would act only if FIFA requested it, which seems unlikely.

“I don’t want to do it. If they have a problem, by the time we get there, we’ll take care of it. We can solve it. I’ve proven that in D.C. and everywhere we went, we took care of that very easily,” Trump told Fox Sports, referring to the deployment of the National Guard in the capital.

“If you have any problems, please let us know, and we’ll resolve them,” added the New Yorker, who arrived at the Kennedy Center with FIFA President Gianni Infantino. Also present were the leaders of Mexico and Canada, Claudia Sheinbaum and Mark Carney. The three opened the World Cup draw by opening the balls containing the names of their respective countries, before those balls were placed into groups A, B and D.

Countries have withdrawn from hosting the World Cup in the past, such as Colombia in 1986, but cities have never been removed from an already established role in the tournament. If Trump and the United States were to alter the list of the eleven US host cities for 2026, defined in agreement with FIFA in 2023, it would be extremely unusual. It would be unprecedented. Trump argues that San Francisco, Los Angeles and Boston are “war zones,” overrun by illegal immigration and associated with crimes such as drug trafficking and murder.

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On the same premise, he ordered the deployment of the National Guard in Washington, D.C., despite official statistics showing that the violent crime rate in the capital has fallen by up to 20 percent since 2021.

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