President Trump Floats Idea Of Removing World Cup Hosting Rights From 'Unsafe' Cities

11 U.S. cities are slated to host at least one match

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The 2026 FIFA World Cup is less than a year away, but some of the locations of games could be in flux.

Over the month-plus of competition, matches will take place in Mexico, Canada, and the United States, the three host countries for soccer’s premier event. 11 different cities are scheduled to have the honor of hosting one or multiple matches on American soil:

  • Los Angeles
  • Seattle
  • Dallas
  • Houston
  • Kansas City
  • Atlanta
  • Boston
  • Miami
  • Philadelphia
  • Santa Clara, CA
  • East Rutherford, NJ


At least, that’s what was originally planned. President Donald Trump might change that.

US President Donald Trump holds the FIFA World Cup trophy in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, Aug. 22, 2025. Trump announced that Washington's John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will host the draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Photographer: Annabelle Gordon/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Crime rates are a big issue in many American cities, so much so that Trump issued an executive order declaring a crime emergency in Washington D.C. in August. He sent the national guard into the city to clean things up, and is planning on going to Memphis and Chicago in the near future to do the same thing. 

With the World Cup around the corner, Trump said that if he thinks any potential host city isn’t adequately safe, he would move the host city.

"If any city we think is going to be even a little bit dangerous for the World Cup or for the Olympics. … But for the World Cup in particular, because they're playing in so many cities, we won't allow it to go to that," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Friday. We'll move it around a little bit. But I hope that's not going to happen."

According to U.S. News Report, the only American host city in the Top 20 most dangerous places in the country is St. Louis.

Crime will take place in whatever cities these matches are hosted in, and Trump wasn’t specific on what would have to happen for him to think a city was "unsafe."

However, what is clear is that the president is going to do whatever he can to ensure that the World Cup is secure for everyone involved. 

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John Simmons graduated from Liberty University hoping to become a sports journalist. He’s lived his dream while working for the Media Research Center and can’t wait to do more in this field with Outkick. He could bore you to death with his knowledge of professional ultimate frisbee, and his one life goal is to find Middle Earth and start a homestead in the Shire. He’s still working on how to make that happen.