WASHINGTON — With the World Cup simply six months away and the match draw unfolding Friday, members of California’s congressional delegation are expressing concern about preparations for what would be the largest and most advanced single-sport competitors in historical past.
The match, which can function 48 groups taking part in 104 video games throughout the U.S., Mexico and Canada, provides a once-in-a-generation alternative for the 11 U.S. host cities to each showcase themselves to the world and seize a slice of what FIFA estimates can be a $30.5-billion financial affect. However to take full benefit of that chance, organizers want authorities help on points starting from visas to safety whereas additionally coping with ticket costs far past the technique of the common fan.
The match draw will happen Friday morning on the Kennedy Middle in Washington, D.C., the place the 42 nations that already certified can be randomly assigned to one among 12 teams for the match’s opening spherical. That’s the final main hurdle for a World Cup that can open June 11 in Mexico Metropolis and finish July 19 in East Rutherford, N.J.
After that comes the Herculean job of placing on the primary World Cup within the U.S. in 32 years, one that can require bipartisan authorities cooperation on a number of ranges. Get it proper, and the upside is gigantic. Get it mistaken, and the injury to U.S. status can be important.
The FIFA World Cup trophy is displayed throughout a panel dialogue at The Kennedy Middle on Wednesday in Washington.
(Dan Mullan / Getty Pictures)
And up to now, the politicians say, the Trump administration has confirmed to be as combative because it has been cooperative.
“There’s so many layers to the economic engine that is the World Cup. It’s going to be successful. I’m highly confident of that,” Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) stated. “But to ensure its success — not just on an economic front, but on a logistical and security front — the best thing that we can all do is focus on the task at hand.
“Focus on federal government, state government and local government collaboration.”
Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Los Angeles) is also optimistic however guardedly so, given the work nonetheless to be finished.
“You’re talking about visas, you’re talking about infrastructure, you’re talking about transportation, you’re talking about national security,” stated Kamlager-Dove, whose district abuts Inglewood and SoFi Stadium, web site of eight World Cup video games. “You’re actually also talking about morale and a brand. People don’t want to buy a brand that sucks, or that’s losing or that isn’t inclusive.
“We can’t afford to have that happen for the World Cup.”
Based on a November examine by the consulting agency Tourism Economics, 1.24 million overseas guests are anticipated to come back to the U.S. for the World Cup, lower than half what FIFA, the match organizer, projected. Nonetheless, that reverses a development by which worldwide tourism dropped greater than 6% this yr. Almost 2 million World Cup tickets have been offered, with most going to folks within the three host nations. Extra seats will go on sale subsequent Thursday.
Followers in 209 different nations and territories additionally purchased tickets, based on FIFA, and lots of of these followers will want visas to make use of them. Getting these paperwork has confirmed tough.
Final spring Congress warned the State Division that its visa-processing system — which required candidates in some nations to attend greater than a yr merely for an appointment — wanted to be streamlined. Three weeks in the past the Trump administration rolled out the FIFA Prioritized Appointment Scheduling System, or PASS, which can permit candidates with World Cup tickets to use for an expedited visa interview.
The administration doubled down on that Thursday, instructing embassies and consulates to prioritize visa purposes for foreigners planning to attend the World Cup or the 2028 L.A. Olympics. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated the administration added greater than 400 consular officers across the globe to deal with the demand.
“All attention should be on our outstanding athletes, not bureaucratic backlogs,” stated Rep. Younger Kim (R-Anaheim Hills), who partnered with Kamlager-Dove to induce the State Division to expedite visa processing. “The administration has made clear that these major sporting events are a top priority.”
But whereas gamers and coaches are clear to come back, some World Cup followers are ineligible even for the expedited visa course of. In June the Trump administration, citing security issues, blocked or restricted journey to the U.S. for residents of 19 nations — together with Iran and Haiti, whose nations certified for the World Cup — and is contemplating increasing the ban to a different dozen nations following the taking pictures of two Nationwide Guard troops in Washington final month.
Iran certified for the 2026 World Cup however is among the many nations whose followers face restricted entry touring to the US for the match.
(Mohamed Farag / Getty Pictures)
That isn’t precisely in keeping with the philosophy behind the match, which FIFA says is to bridge cultural, political and social divides. The ban additionally clashes with what President Trump stated throughout his first time period in 2018, when he promised FIFA in writing that followers from all nations would be capable of enter the U.S. with out discrimination.
“When we made the bid to host, we were taking on the responsibility of making sure that every country that qualified would be able to travel and play,” stated Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Livermore), who attended faculty on a soccer scholarship. “I don’t like what it says about us as a host country, if we’re just denying visas and excluding countries.
“We’ve dramatically increased the number of teams who qualify. And that model cannot work if you have a host country that is making political decisions that affect who is eligible and who’s not.”
Swalwell worries in regards to the long-term results of such bans if the U.S. successfully determines which certified groups can compete within the match.
“We will never have the World Cup again,” he stated. “We will be permanently banned, essentially, from hosting. We will so tarnish our reputation.”
The congressman isn’t naive to the potential risks the Trump insurance policies are supposed to handle. He’s a member of the Job Pressure on Enhancing Safety for Particular Occasions, which focuses on oversight of safety preparations for the World Cup in addition to the 2028 Olympics and different worldwide sporting occasions.
“The response, to me, is not to deny teams from playing,” Swalwell stated. “It’s to surge resources and have security conditions and requirements for countries that are riskier.”
“There has to be proper security, vetting for folks coming in from other countries,” Padilla agreed. “Los Angeles is no stranger to these large-scale events, from prior Olympics that we’ve hosted, Super Bowls that we’ve hosted. State and local officials in California know what we’re doing. We just need the federal government to do its part.”
Some assist was included within the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill,” which handed Congress in July. It contains $625 million for a grant program to assist U.S. host cities fund measures reminiscent of enhanced background checks and cybersecurity. The invoice additionally units apart an extra $500 million in grants to counter the specter of drone assaults, which have grow to be a key fear for organizers of huge occasions.
“We’ve had, obviously, Super Bowls. But the World Cup is going to be multiple Super Bowls happening at once,” stated a legislative aide for Congressman Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the chairman of the safety job power. “We’ve never had this number of people coming in for this many events over two months, essentially.”
Along with the threats from exterior, human rights teams and Congressional representatives additionally raised fears that dispatching Nationwide Guard troops and Immigration and Customs Enforcement brokers, who’ve been despatched to the streets of no less than 17 main U.S. cities — together with seven World Cup markets — will ship the mistaken message by militarizing the video games.
“Scaring the bejesus out of people unnecessarily, who are scared that if they go to a game, somebody’s going to jump out of a dumpster and snatch them and put them in a U-Haul van and deport them to Liberia, that’s not how you boost ticket sales,” stated Kamlager-Dove, whose issues are shared by Padilla, Swalwell and others within the California congressional delegation.
SoFi Stadium in Inglewood will host eight matches throughout the 2026 World Cup.
(FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP by way of Getty Pictures)
Ticket distribution, which is managed by FIFA, additionally has grow to be a priority amid brisk gross sales. For the primary time, FIFA stepped into the profitable secondary marketplace for World Cup tickets, taking a 30% lower — in two separate 15% transactions — from each resale, a markup many scalpers would think about extreme. On a ticket resold for $1,000, for instance, FIFA takes $150 from the vendor (who receives $850) and prices the client an additional $150 (who pays $1,150 whole), leading to a $300 revenue for FIFA.
In earlier World Cups, resale costs have been capped at face worth and FIFA charged charges of 10% or much less. Not so this yr, with one vendor reportedly asking $44,000 for a ticket to July’s remaining whereas FIFA’s lowest worth for a non-public suite to that sport is $199,000.
But there’s a ready checklist to pay that.
By comparability, the most costly ticket for the World Cup remaining in Qatar 4 years in the past was $1,607, a 46% improve from 2018.
“They have to get a little more transparent about why they’re charging so much,” Kamlager-Dove stated. “Why does it feel like price gouging?”
Lastly, there’s the uncertainty that descends over World Cup cities each time Trump, who will attend Friday’s draw, muses about taking video games out of locations like Seattle, Boston and the San Francisco Bay Space, a warning he final made simply three weeks in the past. Whereas FIFA officers dismissed the threats, they’re tough to disregard — particularly for followers about to spend tens of hundreds of {dollars} to journey to these cities.
The distractions, Swalwell stated, are ones the World Cup doesn’t want lower than 200 days from the opening sport.
“It’s a real opportunity for America to shine. That’s appealing,” he stated. “We have an opportunity to show that we’re open for business, we’re open for sport. I hope the president embraces that rather than sabotage the Americans who would suffer if he gets this wrong.”
Kim, like Padilla, is assured the match can be a historic success and says the president will deserve credit score for that.
“This summer’s World Cup, along with the upcoming L.A. 2028 Olympics, is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Southern California to shine — bringing in billions in economic activity, millions of visitors, and showcasing the very best of our communities,” she stated. “We can’t afford to take our eye off the ball. We must meet the moment and be prepared to welcome fans, athletes and media from around the globe.
“I have no doubt President Trump will continue driving this effort forward to make these games not just successful, but the greatest America has ever hosted.”
