US President Donald Trump has threatened to move matches for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, scheduled to be held next year, to a Boston suburb after suggesting parts of the city had been “taken over” by rioters.
Foxboro, Massachusetts, home of the NFL’s New England Patriots and about 48 kilometers (30 miles) from Boston, will host the games as the United States co-hosts the 2026 World Cup with Mexico and Canada. Trump was asked about Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, a Democrat whom he described as “intelligent” but “radical leftist.”
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“We could take them away,” Trump said of the World Cup games. “I love the people of Boston, and I know the games are sold out. But your mayor is no good.”
President Trump has previously made similar threats against San Francisco and Seattle. He repeated his threat in Boston on Wednesday.
Can President Trump steal the 2026 FIFA World Cup?
President Trump previously declared cities “unsafe” for the 104-game football tournament and suggested FIFA may change detailed plans to host it in 2022. The plan includes games at NFL stadiums near New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The World Cup venue is not President Trump’s preference. Eleven cities in the United States, three in Mexico and two in Canada have contracts with FIFA, but would face significant logistical and legal challenges to make changes in the eight months leading up to kickoff on June 11.
“This is a FIFA tournament, it is FIFA’s jurisdiction and FIFA makes those decisions,” Football Association vice-president Victor Montagliani said at the Sports Business Conference in London earlier this month.
The group appeared to soften its stance slightly on Wednesday, saying in a statement that “safety and security are paramount at all events around the world” and that precautions “are clearly the responsibility of governments, and it is for them to decide what is in the best interest of public safety.”
FIFA’s statement added: “We hope that all 16 host cities are prepared to host the event safely and meet all necessary requirements.”
President Trump claimed, “If I felt that somebody was doing something wrong and there was a dangerous situation, I would call Gianni, the phenomenal FIFA chief, and say, ‘Let’s move somewhere else.’ And they would do it.”
By this president, he meant FIFA president Gianni Infantino, with whom he had a close relationship. Trump said Infantino “doesn’t want to do it, but he could very easily do it.”
Wu appeared on a local podcast on Wednesday and questioned how President Trump could steal the Olympics with less than a year to go. She said almost everything is already “locked down by contract” so no one can bring it back “even if you live in the White House right now.”
“We don’t have the ability to take away a World Cup match,” Wu said. “There is no real threat to say a city is too dangerous to host a game.”
2026 FIFA World Cup matches to be held in Boston
The seven games to be played at Gillette Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough include five group stage games, one Round of 32 game and a quarterfinal game to be played on July 9, 2026. News of so many big matches came as a surprise to local organizers.
Mike Roynd, head of the Boston World Cup Organizing Committee, said when the schedule was announced last year, “The later the tournament gets, the more attention it gets.” “For us, it’s just a matter of excitement. … For us, it’s the perfect schedule. I don’t think FIFA could have done a better job.”
According to organizers, the tournament is expected to have an economic impact of $1.1 billion across the region, create more than 5,000 jobs and generate more than $60 million in tax revenue. We also expect more than 2 million visitors to visit New England over the 39 days of the convention.
What is the relationship between Robert Kraft and Trump?
Gillette Stadium is operated by Robert Kraft, owner of the NFL’s New England Patriots and Major League Soccer’s New England Revolution.
Mr. Kraft served as honorary chairman of the unified bid committee and was instrumental in bringing the World Cup back to the United States. In a 2024 interview on the “Breakfast Club” podcast, Trump said he had been a “social friend” of Trump since the 1990s, shortly after he bought the Patriots. He said in the interview that the only donation he had ever made to Trump was a “large inauguration donation” after the 2016 presidential election.
But Mr. Kraft also presented the president with a diamond-encrusted Super Bowl ring during his first term, after the Patriots won the NFL championship to close out the 2016 season. Sitting presidents typically receive gifts from sports teams during celebratory visits to the White House, but Kraft also gave Trump a ring, the team confirmed.
After the team visited in April 2017, Kraft decided to have a ring made for Trump so he could display something special in Trump’s presidential library, the team said. However, in the same 2024 Breakfast Club interview, Kraft said he had not spoken to Trump since the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters.
President Trump sets his sights on Boston
Boston and its mayor have been a frequent target of the Trump administration for much of the year.
President Trump and his allies have focused their attacks on the city’s so-called sanctuary city police department and the extent to which they should assist with deportations. The Trump administration sued the city in September, arguing that the sanctuary city policy violated federal law and that the city’s refusal to cooperate with immigration authorities released dangerous criminals who should have been deported.
The Trump administration has already deployed the National Guard to Washington and Memphis, and plans for deployments in Chicago and Portland, Oregon, have sparked legal battles. Democratic and Republican leaders across Massachusetts have opposed deploying the National Guard to Boston, and Mr. Wu, who is running for re-election as an independent, often cites the city’s historically low crime rate.
Wu touted the fact that gun violence dropped to record lows in his first year in office and has continued to decline ever since. The city of Boston had a historic low of 24 homicides in 2024, but has surpassed that number so far in 2025, with 27 homicides, the police department said.
