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Trump travel ban puts U.S. World Cup bid in danger

By Joshua Sutter

FIFA President Gianni Infantino gestures while talking with journalists during a press conference following the FIFA Executive Football Summit near Heathrow airport in London on March 9, 2017.Barcelona's extraordinary fightback to beat Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League demonstrated football's unique capacity for surprise, FIFA president Gianni Infantino said. / AFP PHOTO / ADRIAN DENNIS (Photo credit should read ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/Getty Images)
FIFA President Gianni Infantino gestures while talking with journalists during a press conference following the FIFA Executive Football Summit near Heathrow airport in London on March 9, 2017.Barcelona's extraordinary fightback to beat Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League demonstrated football's unique capacity for surprise, FIFA president Gianni Infantino said. / AFP PHOTO / ADRIAN DENNIS (Photo credit should read ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/Getty Images) /
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Donald Trump’s travel ban could hurt the United States’ chances at hosting the World Cup.

A tumultuous time in U.S. politics is finally bleeding over into the soccer sphere. Donald Trump’s revised travel ban went into place Monday evening, raising new questions for the sporting community. One of those questions concerned the U.S.’s hopes of hosting a World Cup.

That question got a quick answer Thursday, when FIFA president Gianni Infantino suggested the U.S.’s chances at hosting the World Cup could be hurt by the ban. Speaking in London Thursday morning, Infantino said:

"“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. That is obvious.”"

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Perhaps the most fascinating part about Infantino’s quotes was his discussion of bid requirements. He said: “We are now in the process of defining the bid requirements. The requirements will be clear. And then each country can make up their decision, whether they want to bid or not based on the requirements. It’s general sporting criteria.”

U.S. foreign policy will be shaped by President Trump moving forward. The impact it has on a U.S. World Cup bid could be monumental. The U.S. hasn’t hosted a World Cup since 1994. The travel ban put in place by President Trump at the very least raises questions in the mind of Infantino.

Until the travel ban went into place, the U.S. was the favorite to host the 2026 World Cup. It remains to be seen if the ban will hurt the bid. We’ll have to wait until 2020 to see how the bidding process pans out. The next two World Cups will take place in Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022.

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