In addition to these travel bans, the decision to issue any visa is entirely at the discretion of the U.S. government, and Trump has made no secret about which arrivals he deems worthy. All told, Trump has restricted immigrant visas in some capacity from seventy-five countries, fifteen of which are sending teams to the World Cup. All of these teams are from Africa, South America, the Caribbean, or Asia —including perennial powerhouse Brazil, 2022 semifinalist Morocco, first-time qualifier Cabo Verde, and consistent contenders Colombia, Egypt, and Ghana. Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, and Senegal, along with fellow World Cup qualifiers Tunisia and Algeria, are also among the fifty countries whose passport-holding citizens are required to pay a bond of as much as fifteen thousand dollars to enter the U.S. on a tourist visa.
Infantino cannot claim he didn’t anticipate the possibility that U.S. policies might come into conflict with FIFA requirements. When FIFA considered candidates to host the 2026 World Cup nine years ago, the President was Donald Trump, and Infantino acknowledged at the time that Trump’s 2017 executive order banning visitors from predominantly Muslim countries threatened to disqualify the U.S. from contention.
“It’s obvious when it comes to FIFA competitions, any team, including the supporters and officials of that team, who qualify for a World Cup need to have access to the country, otherwise there is no World Cup,” Infantino said at a 2017 press conference, in London. A year later, Trump wrote a letter to Infantino saying that he was “confident” that “all eligible athletes, officials and fans from all countries around the world would be able to enter the United States without discrimination.”
Despite Infantino’s concerns, and before the Supreme Court had even issued a final ruling on Trump’s travel ban, FIFA’s voting committee awarded the World Cup to the U.S. While Canada and Mexico share in the hosting duties, seventy-eight of the tournament’s hundred and four matches, including the final rounds, will be on American soil.
Geopolitical tensions simmer in the backdrop of every World Cup. For the 1934 World Cup, in Italy, Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini built new stadiums around the country to showcase the strength of his regime. When Argentina hosted in 1978, the military junta that had taken power two years earlier staged elaborate ceremonies as markers of the country’s stability amid growing evidence of violent political repression. When the U.S. faced Iran in the 1998 World Cup, after years of diplomatic tensions, President Bill Clinton said he hoped the match “can be another step toward ending the estrangement between our nations.” During the 2002 World Cup, fans across Africa celebrated Senegal’s upset victory over defending champion France, its former colonizer, as a symbol of liberation.
Over the years, FIFA has prohibited play for countries with government policies that violate the organization’s stated values, including South Africa during three decades of apartheid; Yugoslavia, in 1994, following United Nations sanctions during the Balkan wars; and Russia, after it invaded Ukraine in 2022. The U.S. under Trump has faced no such consequence—quite the opposite. In the past year, Infantino attended Trump’s Inauguration, honored him with FIFA’s first “Peace Prize,” and, after a White House meeting, assured everyone that “America will welcome the world.”
In response to questions about the impact of visa restrictions on the World Cup, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department told me that “America’s safety and the security of our borders will always come first.” The State Department did offer expedited appointments in the visa-application process for visitors with World Cup tickets, but the program doesn’t accommodate “foreign nationals who are otherwise not eligible for visas.” For countries barred from receiving visas, Trump’s proclamation only allows “exceptions for any athlete or member of an athletic team, including coaches, persons performing a necessary support role, and immediate relatives.” The exception explicitly “does not apply to fans.”
But Issa Laye Diop, of Senegal, has applied for a visa anyway, telling me he hopes the rules change in time. As the president of le 12ème Gaïndé, a fan club for the Senegalese national team, he has attended all three World Cups for which Senegal has qualified in the past, in 2002, 2018, and 2022. This year, Senegal boasts a strong roster, led by the star forward Sadio Mané. “The whole country will apply for a visa,” Diop said. “Why not?” And, even if Diop’s U.S. visa doesn’t come through, he still has a chance to keep his streak alive: teams are guaranteed to play three group-stage games in their attempt to reach the “knockout” tournament, and, while Senegal’s first two games are in the U.S., its third will be north of the border, in Toronto.