The United States remains the elusive promised land of world soccer. The largest market for television rights and ticket sales is resisting the allure of the sport that inspires the most passion worldwide. FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who maintains a close relationship with Donald Trump, wants the Club World Cup and, above all, the 2026 World Cup for international teams, which the United States is hosting alongside Mexico and Canada, to serve as a catapult to boost the game’s popularity. But Trump’s policies, including hostility toward his neighbors, his immigration and trade decisions, and entry bans on citizens from multiple countries, in addition to the recent protests against the president’s policies that erupted in Los Angeles — including a curfew — threaten to overshadow both events.

Infantino attended Trump’s victory rally in Washington on January 19, where the Republican mentioned him five times, always by name. “Thank you, Gianni, for the World Cup.” “This is FIFA at its most respectful,” the FIFA president said in a video on Instagram. “To be mentioned by the new president of the United States of America at his victory rally, in his victory speech, is something unique. It’s beautiful,” he added.

The FIFA president was one of the select guests at Trump’s inauguration at the Capitol the following day. He also accompanied the U.S. president to Saudi Arabia and Qatar during his Middle East tour, even at the cost of arriving late to the FIFA assembly in Asunción, Paraguay, to the astonishment and anger of those in attendance.

“The last minute changes to the timings of the FIFA Congress are deeply regrettable […] to have the timetable changed at the last minute for what appears to be simply to accommodate private political interests, does the game no service and appears to put its interests second,” UEFA complained in a statement after a hint of a standoff.

“I felt I had to be there to represent all of you, to represent football,” Infantino apologized. “As FIFA president, my responsibility is to make decisions in the best interests of the organization,” he argued.

“I think it is absolutely crucial for the success of a World Cup to have a close relationship with the president,” the FIFA chief said in February. Trump, meanwhile, considers Infantino a “great friend.” They have played golf together, see each other relatively frequently, and shower each other with praise. “President Trump is definitely a sportsman. I am lucky enough in my life to come across some of the most talented athletes in soccer. And President Trump is made of the same sort of fiber. He is a competitor. He wants to compete, he wants to win. He wants to show who is the best,” Infantino said of him in 2020 when introducing him at a dinner with executives in Davos.

Trump is, in principle, the person who will present both the Club World Cup and the World Cup. The golden trophy destined for the champions of the world has been in the White House for weeks.

Soccer, however, remains a second-class sport in the United States, where football (both the NFL and college football) is the undisputed king of sports. According to a Gallup poll published in 2024, gridiron football is, at 41%, the favorite sport of most Americans, followed by baseball (10%) and basketball (9%), although at least soccer (5%) has overtaken ice hockey (4%). The sports are not mutually exclusive, but when citizens are asked if they are fans, soccer’s relative position does not improve.

Not even the Messi phenomenon has caught on with broad segments of the population, despite the fact that the Argentine star’s arrival at Inter Miami caused a surge in team jersey sales and ratings for MLS in general. Soccer, however, is gaining ground and has a somewhat stronger position among the younger segment of the population and the Latino community. Therefore, the double World Cup presents itself as a unique opportunity.

The Club World Cup kicks off this Saturday with Messi’s Inter Miami in the opening match. Thirty-two teams are participating, but peculiar qualification rules have allowed four Brazilian and three MLS sides into the draw, while Spain, England, Germany, and Italy have only two representatives each. Something is amiss when Al-Ahly, Al-Hilal, and Al-Ain are participating, but not Liverpool, Barça, or Napoli, the latter three champions of their domestic leagues this season.

It will, in a sense, be a dress rehearsal for the 2026 World Cup, the largest in history, with 48 participating countries, compared to 32 in 2022. The United States will have 11 host cities, where 78 of the 104 World Cup matches will be played. Canada will host 13 matches in Toronto and Vancouver, and Mexico will host another 13, spread across Mexico City, Monterrey, and Guadalajara.

“The United States is on the verge of becoming the soccer power in the world. You don’t know it yet, but it’s coming faster than you think,” Infantino said in Davos in January 2020. “President Trump has been in this venture from the very beginning. He wanted it to be organized, together with Canada and Mexico, in prelude of the great trade agreement that you just signed last week. So, soccer is in advance of trade as well,” Infantino said at the time. This is the trade agreement Trump has torn up at the start of his second term.

Overall, Washington’s relations with its neighbors are far from the unifying ideal with which the candidacy was presented. Trump has flirted with the idea of annexing Canada, provoking a nationalist backlash in the country. Tariffs and immigration policy have deteriorated relations, and no one knows how they will evolve until the start of an event that requires logistical coordination and agility at the borders. Canadian tourist arrivals have plummeted, and visits to the United States in general are declining due to Trump’s hostile immigration and border policies.

Last month, the Trump administration’s 2026 World Cup Task Force insisted that all fans would be welcome and claimed supporters would be able to enjoy a “seamless experience,” in Trump’s words. “I know we’ll have visitors from close to 100 countries,” Vice President J.D. Vance said. “We want them to come, we want them to celebrate, we want them to watch the game. But when the time is up, they’ll have to go home.”

Last week, Trump issued an executive order banning entry into the United States for citizens of 12 countries and placing severe restrictions on those of seven others. Among the banned countries is Iran, a 2026 World Cup qualifier. The executive order includes an exception for soccer players participating in the World Cup, coaches, their families, and necessary support staff, but not for fans. Furthermore, in other countries not subject to visa restrictions, the wait times and requirements for visas are such that they discourage attendance.

The Club World Cup has so far generated little excitement in the United States. The high price of tickets — those for the opening match were initially priced at between $300 and $500; now they’re selling for just over $50 — the deteriorating economic situation (also due to Trump’s erratic policies), the novelty of the tournament, the lack of prominent teams (and the presence of many marginalized ones), and the low popularity of soccer in general in the country all play against it. The setting of prime European viewing times for many of the matches is an implicit acknowledgment that soccer’s conquest of the United States will have to wait.

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The controversial Guantánamo Bay detention centre — which became a symbol of the war on Islamist terrorism following the 11 September attacks — has returned to the spotlight due to a possible decision by the White House to transfer 9,000 migrants to the facility.

According to The Washington Post, among the thousands of deported foreign nationals could be citizens from Italy, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Poland, Turkey and Ukraine. The same newspaper also reported growing concern among US diplomats regarding this move by the Trump administration.

In its first official statement, the US State Department — without revealing the nationalities of those detained — appeared to confirm that Guantánamo was being considered as an option: “It is not the final destination”, but in any case, “it is not new for us to transfer illegal immigrants who have committed crimes to Guantánamo before they are returned to their country of origin”, spokesperson Tammi Bruce explained.

However, the White House later denied any plan to send undocumented migrants to the detention centre, dismissing the idea as “fake news”.

The European Commission has opted not to comment on the matter.

Italy

In Italy, given that two Italian nationals were reportedly among those arrested, foreign minister Antonio Tajani acted swiftly and received no negative signals from the US side in the early stages.

Initial reactions came quickly. Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani stated that the Italians currently in the United States “should not” be sent to Guantánamo, as Italy had already informed the US administration that it was prepared to repatriate them.

“According to initial information from the Department of Homeland Security, Guantánamo would be used for irregular migrants from countries that do not accept repatriations,” Tajani said, responding to Washington Post revelations.

“Italy has already communicated to the US administration its willingness to take back its nationals who are in an irregular situation, fully respecting their individual rights and providing consular assistance. Therefore, there should be no reason for any Italian citizens to be sent to Guantánamo,” he explained.

In any case, Tajani is scheduled to hold a telephone conversation this Thursday 11 June with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio: “I’ll try to get further clarification, but that seems to be the current state of affairs.”

Since President Donald Trump took office in January, the Pentagon has deployed thousands of troops to the southern border, and the government has already used military aircraft to transfer Venezuelan migrants to the maximum-security facility at Guantánamo.

Controversy reaches Parliament

The controversy surrounding the possible transfer of European migrants to Guantánamo has now reached Italy’s Chamber of Deputies, where several MPs have demanded immediate explanations from Giorgia Meloni’s government and requested Tajani’s appearance before Parliament.

“The Washington Post published a disturbing report: 9,000 migrants in the United States may soon be deported to the Guantánamo base — in reality, a prison. A facility infamously known for detaining criminals and Islamic State (IS) terrorists, and one which has faced serious allegations of human rights abuses,” said Angelo Bonelli from the Green and Left Alliance (AVS).

According to the MP, around 800 of those individuals are European citizens, including Britons, French and Italians. And although Tajani has stated that no Italians will be transferred, The Washington Post cites official US sources and documents suggesting otherwise.

“We are facing an extraordinarily serious situation, one which not only concerns Italian citizens but also raises profound questions about the state of human rights in the United States,” Bonelli added.

Senator Raffaella Paita, from the centrist Italia Viva party, has also called for Tajani to report to Parliament.

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At least 24 U.S. cities on Wednesday joined the protests against Donald Trump’s immigration policy, in a wave of pushback that began last Friday in Los Angeles. New protests have been called throughout California, and from coast to coast, from Las Vegas and Seattle to New York and Austin. Thousands of people are expected to take to the streets this week to challenge the U.S. government’s campaign of mass detentions and deportations, a prelude to the protests planned for this Saturday. On that day, President Trump will celebrate his birthday with a military parade in the capital, which will be met with hundreds of demonstrations across the country.

Protests in solidarity with L.A. have been spreading to other locations since the weekend, but on Tuesday they intensified and grew in size. In New York City, thousands of people gathered in Lower Manhattan, home to several federal immigration agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the main focus of protesters’ anger. The protest continued with a peaceful march through the area, but clashes broke out between authorities and a group that remained near the ICE offices. Police arrested dozens of people, pushing and knocking some protesters to the ground, and using pepper spray.

Clashes also broke out in Atlanta, Georgia, where hundreds of people had gathered to protest Tuesday night. According to authorities, six people were arrested after the protest ran past the scheduled time. Officers used chemicals and physical force to disperse the crowd, and some protesters hurled fireworks and rocks. And in Chicago, Illinois, after thousands of people marched through the city streets, some protesters threw water bottles at the police.

Hundreds of people have been arrested across the country since the protests erupted. Most of the arrests have taken place in California, particularly in Los Angeles, where protests entered their sixth day Wednesday amid a heavy military presence and a curfew declared by local authorities. More than 330 people have been arrested in the country’s second-most populated city. Another 240 have been arrested in San Francisco, where protesters forced the closure of two immigration courts on Tuesday.

Some organizers fear that Trump could deploy National Guard troops or Marines to other cities, as he has already done in Los Angeles. The president has said that the military deployment in California could be “the first of many” in different states. In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican and staunch ally of President Trump, especially on immigration issues, has announced that he will deploy the National Guard to his territory “to ensure peace and order,” after several protesters clashed with authorities in a few cities in the southern state, leading to dozens of arrests.

In New York City, Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat but also an ally of Trump on his immigration agenda, has said he does not anticipate a military deployment and has assured that the New York Police Department, due to its size and experience, are prepared to deal with the protests. He has warned, however, that he will not tolerate a repeat of the violence seen in Los Angeles on the streets of the Big Apple. New York, like the California metropolis, is one of the so-called sanctuary cities, which do not cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

Most of the actions planned for this Saturday had been called before the protests erupted in Los Angeles to coincide with the president’s birthday and his military parade. But now the pro-immigrant demonstrations are expected to overlap with those on June 14, giving rise to a massive protest movement, perhaps the largest since Trump took office five months ago.

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