Trump says FIFA chief would back moving World Cup games

FIFA chief Gianni Infantino with Trump in Egypt on Monday. (AP)

• US president: “Very easily he would do it.”

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that FIFA chief Gianni Infantino would support moving 2026 World Cup games from US cities for security reasons if necessary.
In September, Trump raised the possibility of moving games amid his crackdown on Democratic-run cities, but at the time FIFA said that it was up to football’s governing body to decide where games are held.
“If somebody is doing a bad job and if I feel there’s unsafe conditions, I would call Gianni, the head of FIFA, who’s phenomenal, and I would say, let’s move it to another location. And he would do that,” Trump told reporters at the White House when asked if games could be moved from Boston, one of the host cities.
“Very easily he would do it.”
Trump’s comments came a day after he met close friend Infantino in Egypt at a summit on a Gaza ceasefire, where the FIFA boss joined more than two dozen world leaders who were discussing peace in the Middle East.
The US president also suggested that, if necessary, events for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics could also be moved.
“I could say the same thing for the Olympics,” Trump said. “If I thought LA was not going to be prepared properly, I would move it to another location.”
Republican Trump’s administration has deployed national guard troops to Democratic-run US cities this year over the objections of local and state leaders, saying they are needed to counter crime and left-wing activism.
Boston is hosting seven games at next year’s World Cup. San Francisco and Seattle are both hosting six matches each at the tournament while Los Angeles is hosting eight.
The United States is co-hosting next year’s World Cup with Mexico and Canada, but will be hosting the bulk of the games in the tournament, which has been expanded to include 48 teams.
Trump earlier this year appointed himself as chairman of a White House task force for the World Cup.