The president of the United States, Donald Trump, created a working group on Friday to prepare for the 2026 World Cup, which will bring the main soccer tournament in the world to North America at a time when their tariffs again and again have increased tensions throughout the continent.
“I think it will make it more exciting,” Trump said about playing the World Cup in the midst of acute rhetoric among the leaders of the host nations. “The tension is a good thing.”
The working group, which Trump will preside over, will coordinate the security and planning of the federal government for the tournament, which is expected to attract millions of tourists to the United States, Canada and Mexico.
“It is a great honor for our country to have it,” Trump said about the World Cup after meeting with FIFA officials, the international football government body. He said he would like to attend multiple games.
The preparations are increasing through the continent along with the tensions between the United States and its neighbors, since Trump has repeatedly threatened to impose tariffs before going back, spitting the markets and provoking fears of a commercial war and an economic recession.
He also speaks pejoratively of the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, and reflects on Canada becoming an American state, which has promoted national pride to the north of the border.
By 2026, the World Cup will expand to 48 teams that play 104 games in three nations, the first time the tournament will be divided between countries. Seventy -eight of 104 games will be played in the United States, with 13 games each in Mexico and Canada, and up to six games a day. The final will be played on July 19 at Metlife Stadium in New Jersey.
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The president of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, said that the working group will ensure that each of the visitors who will travel from all over the world “feels safe, feels happy and feels that we are doing something special.”
“So we are here to create and make the best show on the planet,” said Infantino. Trump gave a personalized play ball and presented an elaborate trophy that will go to the winner of the FIFA 2025 Club Cup, which will face football clubs with each other this summer before the confrontation of national teams next year.
Later, Trump brought Infantino to show the trophy at the beginning of a white -house cryptocurrency summit. The United States, where football has grown in popularity but remains a niche sport, represents an important growth area for football, he said.
Infantino compared the production of the World Cup to hold three Super Bowls daily for a month, a vertiginous and logistic challenge for host governments.
The Trump administration will face a second test in the world sports stage in 2028, when the Summer Olympic Games will take place in California, the first time the games will have been in the US. UU. Since Salt Lake City was the host in 2002.
& Copy 2025 the Canadian press