In March 2025, Peter Montopoli, chief tournament officer of Canada's 2026 World Cup committee, and Victor Montagliani, FIFA vice-president and CONCACAF president, visited to promote the upcoming tournament. At that time, the U.S.-Canada trade war was escalating, travel bans were being imposed on dozens of countries by the U.S., and stories of unjust ICE incarcerations were frequent. Questions arose about how these issues would impact the World Cup.
Montagliani described the situation as nuanced and expressed confidence that these issues would not affect the tournament. "We have that concern in every World Cup we put on," he said. "It's just the nature of our business. When we put on events, whether it's a FIFA or CONCACAF ... you always have to deal with administrations that maybe are not your political stripes or they take more of a political angle. You just have to deal with it."
Infantino's Press Conference
Fast forward to Wednesday, when FIFA President Gianni Infantino faced the media in Mexico City on the eve of the tournament's opening games. He appeared beleaguered, defensive, and hopeful. This came 24 hours after headlines broke that Omar Abdulkadir Artan, the 2025 African referee of the year, was denied entry into the U.S. despite holding proper visas and documentation. Border officials claimed he had links to alleged terror groups.
"What happened to Omar ... we don't control everything," Infantino said. "Maybe sometimes it's good as well to just chill, relax. Unfortunately, our world is a very aggressive world, and security goes above everything, and you need to respect the decisions which are taken."
Visa Issues and Geopolitical Tensions
Artan's ban was the most recent high-profile example of visa issues. Scores of fans, media, and team officials have been denied entry into the U.S., and a rehauled visa application process has become more onerous and expensive. Meanwhile, ongoing U.S.-Iran conflict continues to fester, making this World Cup the first where two participating teams are actively shooting at each other. Iran's base camp was moved to Mexico for safety concerns, but tensions remain high. The Iranian team wears gold-colored "168" lapel pins, a tribute to victims killed in a Feb. 28 missile strike on a school in Iran, though the U.S. denies targeting the school deliberately.
Ticket Pricing Investigation
Lawmakers in New York and New Jersey have launched an investigation into predatory ticket pricing practices, issuing subpoenas to FIFA staff. Infantino defended the pricing, first claiming tickets were cheaper than American playoff sports, then citing legal dynamic pricing practices, and finally stating that ticket revenue funds soccer development in small, impoverished member nations. "We checked what we do with the best lawyers, with the best experts. If we're doing something wrong, then probably everyone selling tickets in North America is doing something wrong as well," Infantino said.
Criticism and Chaos
The venerable Ian Wright, a measured voice in soccer media, summed up the situation in a social video: "This is a World Cup of chaos." He added, "Every few hours, it's another story. Another story about fans denied, players denied, officials denied, journalists denied. Now refs? I'm laughing, but it's not funny. Expensive tickets — the most expensive tickets ever. Expensive accommodation, transport through the roof. Is this how the hosts behave? ... Whoever wins this World Cup is going to have to go through some serious, serious chaos to get this done."
Infantino, when asked if he regretted partnering with the U.S., replied, "I don't regret anything." The World Cups in Russia and Qatar were bought with bribes that obscured problematic politics and human rights concerns. In the U.S., it required a hastily invented Peace Prize, a club World Cup trophy, and leasing an empty office in Trump Tower for a year. The events of recent months have even turned Iran, a country whose government is accused of killing up to 36,000 protesters in January, into a sympathetic figure. FIFA is rapidly becoming the villain of the story.
