The FIFA World Cup will arrive stateside on June 13, with the first game being USA vs. Paraguay at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. Normally, that would be cause for equal parts celebration and nerve-wracking anxiety about how the home team will perform — but Donald Trump’s immigration policy has somehow grabbed all the attention.
Now, even the former president of FIFA is backing calls for a fan boycott from other nations. Sepp Blatter, 89, is the predecessor of current FIFA president Gianni Infantino, and by the standards of many who follow the sport, Blatter is far from a respected voice in global soccer.
He led FIFA for almost two decades, from 1998 to 2015, and was constantly dogged by corruption cases, which ultimately led to a disgraceful resignation from his post. But what Blatter says still carries weight globally, especially within the soccer community.
Trump has been overseeing an unmitigated and disastrous deportation campaign, specifically in Minnesota, in which federal officers have overseen the killing of two residents. The brutal campaign is punctuated by prior announcements from the administration stating that they aim to use the upcoming NFL Super Bowl and possibly even the World Cup as a trap to target undocumented immigrants, citing the Bad Bunny halftime show and the first U.S. match being against a Latin American country.
Stay away from the USA!
Mark Pieth, an attorney who was instrumental in the investigation that led to Blatter’s downfall, said:
“If we consider everything we’ve discussed, there’s only one piece of advice for fans: stay away from the USA! You’ll see it better on TV anyway. And upon arrival, fans should expect that if they don’t please the officials, they’ll be put straight on the next flight home. If they’re lucky.”
Surprisingly, Blatter took to X to co-sign his former adversary, saying, “I think Mark Pieth is right to question this World Cup.”
"For the fans, there's only one piece of advice: stay away from the USA!” I think Mark Pieth is right to question this World Cup. #MarkPieth #GianniInfantino #DonaldTrump #FIFAWorldCup2026 #USA
— Joseph S Blatter (@SeppBlatter) January 26, 2026
It’s not just Blatter. On social media, some Americans have questioned whether the U.S. under Trump is a viable destination for tourists at all. For instance, fans of participating teams such as Senegal and the Ivory Coast may struggle to enter the country due to Trump’s various travel restrictions. The German vice president of their national soccer federation, Oke Göttlich, has also recently revealed that serious discussions are underway about boycotting the upcoming World Cup.
As pressure builds, the ball is now in the administration’s court. The current FIFA president — who recently awarded Trump a made-up peace prize — said, “People want to go, and they will go and celebrate together. We always, always celebrate football together.” That is what Infantino will attempt to ensure through various methods of appeasing the more accommodating side of the president.
Generally, World Cups are global events — the biggest of them all, to be specific. You can’t lock people out and expect the world to simply roll over and accept it. Trump’s mass-deportation agenda was supposed to be one of the ways he would make the world “respect” the U.S. again. It may be time to go back to the drawing board.
