Former FIFA chief Sepp Blatter has backed a proposed fan boycott of World Cup 2026 matches in the United States, citing the conduct of President Donald Trump and his administration both domestically and internationally.
Blatter is the latest international football figure to question the suitability of the US as a host country,calling for a boycott in a post on X on Monday.
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The US is co-hosting the World Cup with Canada and Mexico from June 11 to july 19.
Blatter supported the comments of Mark Pieth, a Swiss lawyer specializing in white-collar crime and an anticorruption expert, who called on football fans to stay away from the US.
“If we consider everything we’ve discussed, there’s only one piece of advice for fans: Stay away from the USA!” Pieth, who also chaired the Independent Governance Committee’s oversight of FIFA reform a decade ago, said in an interview last week with the Swiss newspaper Der Bund.
“You’ll see it better on TV anyway,” pieth said, adding, “And upon arrival, fans should expect that if they don’t please the officials, they’ll be put straight on the next flight home. If they’re lucky.”
In his X post, Blatter, quoting Pieth, added, “I think Mark Pieth is right to question this World Cup.”
The 89-year-old was president of the football governing body from 1998 to 2015, when he resigned following a corruption investigation.
Concerns within the international football community about the US stem from Trump’s expansionist posture on Greenland, travel bans, and aggressive tactics in dealing with migrants and immigration enforcement protesters in US cities, particularly Minneapolis.
Two weeks ago, travel plans for fans from two of the top football countries in Africa were disrupted when the Trump administration announced a ban that would effectively bar people from Senegal and the Ivory Coast from following their teams unless they already have visas. Trump cited “screening and vetting deficiencies” as the main reason for the suspensions.
Fans from Iran and Haiti,two other countries that have qualified for the World Cup,will also be barred from entering the US,as they were included in the first iteration of the travel ban announced by the Trump administration.
