Politics
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Some of soccer’s biggest names have to come to play at the World Cup: Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappé, Erling Haaland, Vinícius Júnior and now even Cristiano Ronaldo have left their mark on the score sheet.
But one key player who loomed over just about every step of pre-tournament preparations has been notably invisible: Donald Trump.
Pre-tournament fears that the American president would trample on the soccer jamboree have, so far, proved largely unfounded after the first two weeks of competition. Trump has yet to attend a match, and even as the U.S. team mounts its best World Cup performance in decades he has done little to claim the success as his own.
Aside from persistent complications surrounding the Iran squad’s entry and exit to the U.S. for games, and the ban on a Somali referee from entering the country before the tournament started, political incidents involving the Trump administration and soccer — or leaders of other World Cup countries, including the neighboring co-hosts with whom he often spars — have been few and far between.
No ICE arrests around matches. No heavy-handed policing like soccer fans sometimes suffer in Western Europe. No beef between Trump and Democratic leaders of cities and states where some of the tournament’s highest-profile matches have been played.
As one European-based senior sports executive told Blue Light News last year about the administration and the World Cup, “Why would they want to f—k it up?”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio attended the USMNT’s opener against Paraguay in Los Angeles, while Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — along with other senior Cabinet officials — was at the American match vs. Australia in Seattle. Though Trump himself hasn’t been to a game yet, he did send the U.S. squad a message of support at the start of the tournament.
In an interview last week with Blue Light News, Massachusetts Democratic Gov. Maura Healey said her administration had worked with the U.S. government “around transportation funding, security funding. That’s the way it should be. There should be that kind of work and coordination.”
Trump allies are on the same page as the tournament progresses serenely through the group stage, beyond continued griping about high ticket prices and transport to and from some stadiums.
“It’s been really good to see the coordination, certainly from a law enforcement perspective,” said Andrew Giuliani, head of the White House’s World Cup task force, as he praised cooperation with police and security services in blue states like New York, New Jersey and California, where the administration doesn’t “agree eye to eye with the mayors and the governors.”
“It’s fun to see moments where the country can come together as well, and I think this is one of those great moments over our 250th birthday where that can happen,” he added.
This week, FIFA chief Gianni Infantino confirmed what many have expected: Trump plans to attend the final on July 19 and help present the winner’s trophy. Can a president who loves the spotlight stay away til then?
The most high-profile team to miss out on the 2026 World Cup, Italy, is picking a new crop of officials to revamp its discredited soccer association — as Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s allies failed in their bid to take more control over the body.
Veteran sports official Giovanni Malagò, a former president of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) for more than a decade, overcame opposition from Italy’s right-wing government to become the new president of the Italian soccer association (FIGC) earlier this week.
Malagò’s key challenge is to mend ties with Italian Sports Minister Andrea Abodi, with whom he has clashed in the past and who publicly questioned Malagò’s soccer credentials. Until the very last minute, Meloni’s government tried to block Malagò from clinching the FIGC’s top job — but ultimately failed.
In a soccer-mad country where the sport carries outsized cultural weight, Italy’s failure to qualify for the World Cup turned into a proxy battle over governance, reforms, investment and the Meloni administration’s willingness to extend political influence into independent institutions.
Frustrated Italian soccer fans, who have seen their country miss out on qualifying for the last three World Cups, just want Malagò to pick Italy’s new head coach.
The favorites for the job are Roberto Mancini and Antonio Conte — two soccer grandees who both previously coached the Italian national team. Another soccer legend, former AC Milan captain Paolo Maldini, is being touted for a new job as a bridge between the FIGC and the players, according to Italian media.
But that’s not the only item sitting in Malagò’s in-tray.
Italy must nominate five stadiums capable of hosting matches at Euro 2032, which it will co-organize with Turkey, by an October deadline. That’s potentially problematic given that Europe’s governing body, UEFA, warned that Italy could lose its role as co-organizer unless it upgrades its dilapidated soccer infrastructure.
This host-city mayor visited a “fan festival” in her city’s Fairmount Park, where a combined 250,000 attendees have gathered thus far to watch matches.
That’s Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker inaugurating the Lemon Hill festival site early in the tournament. The city is hosting Curaçao and Côte d’Ivoire at Lincoln Financial Field today.
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