Big soccer event starts Saturday.
You wonder what are the real thoughts of the president of the governing body of FIFA or world soccer, Gianni Infantino, and the outgoing President of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach. The United States was the goldmine that both sports organizations were seeking and they both got their signature events in the United States. The United States is one of the hosts of soccer’s 2026 World Cup with its neighbors in Canada and in Mexico. The International Olympic Committee is putting its 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City in 2034. But the United States is not welcoming people from 12 countries outright and another seven countries will be facing scrutiny. There are also tariffs and trade wars between the United States and numerous countries.
Will there be an Olympic boycott in 2028 or 2034 of the United States by those 19 countries? Will the United States welcome athletes? The IOC and FIFA have the United States’ word that yes the athletes are welcome. But do the athletes want to compete in the United States? FIFA has a month-long competition called the FIFA World Cup 2025 between June 14th and July 13th in various American cities. These are individual teams not national teams competing. The 2026 Men’s World Cup will be played in the United States, in Canada and in Mexico. If FIFA could award the 2026 event again, it might take a different host but scrambling to find a new host within a year’s time might be problematic. FIFA has navigated through the Qatar Men’s World Cup and has awarded the 2034 Men’s World Cup to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia but has not faced a situation before where one of the host countries has started a trade war against its two partners. FIFA has an unprecedented problem.
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Club World Cup starts Saturday.
