After Trump Threatens To Take the World Cup Out of Boston, FIFA Tells President He Doesn’t Have That Power

Next year, the 2026 FIFA World Cup is set to take place in the United States, with Mexico and Canada sharing the hosting honors. With Boston being one of the major U.S. cities involved — and a center for athletic success over the last two decades — there has been major excitement in the area, with 104 games set to be played near Boston, New York, and Los Angeles.

However, last week, President Donald Trump threatened to take away Boston’s hosting honors, claiming the city had recently been “taken over” by civil unrest. The president took several shots at the mayor of Boston, Michelle Wu, calling her “intelligent” but at the same time “radical left,” and further stating that she’s doing a poor job of making the city safe and suitable for the FIFA World Cup.

World Cup hosting sites, however, aren’t dictated by the host cities; those decisions are made by the FIFA soccer committee.

These cities have contracts with FIFA, not with the host country, and the leader of the country in which the tournament is taking place doesn’t have authority over where the matches are held. World Cup president Victor Montagliani went on the record stating, “It’s FIFA’s tournament, FIFA’s jurisdiction; FIFA makes those decisions.”

“Boston is honored and excited to host World Cup matches, and we look forward to welcoming fans from around the world to our beautiful city — the cradle of liberty and city of champions,” Wu said in a recent interview.

The World Cup is set to start on July 11, 2026, in Boston, but with the recent comments by Trump, it seems the location of the tournament could now be in question.

Trump also went on record saying, “If somebody is doing a bad job, and if I feel there are unsafe conditions, I would call Gianni — the head of FIFA, who’s phenomenal — and I would say, ‘Let’s move into another location,’ and they would do that.”