Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter on Monday backed a proposed fan boycott of World Cup matches in the United States.
Blatter was the latest international soccer figure to call into question the suitability of the United States as a host country.President Donald Trump reaffirmed plans to move World Cup games from Boston and the 2028 Olympic Games from Los Angeles if he deems the cities too unsafe to host.
“If we think there’s any reason that … they’re not doing their job, we’re going to take those World Cup games and move them someplace else.”Blatter was the latest international soccer figure to call into question the suitability of the United States as a host country. He called for the boycott in a "For the fans, there's only one piece of advice: stay away from the USA!” I think Mark Pieth is right to question this World Cup.Pieth, a Swiss attorney specializing in white-collar crime and an anti-corruption expert, chaired the Independent Governance Committee's oversight of FIFA reform a decade ago. Blatter was president of the world's governing body for soccer from 1998-2015; he resigned amid an investigation into corruption. In his interview with Der Bund, Pieth said, “If we consider everything we’ve discussed, there’s only one piece of advice for fans: Stay away from the USA! You’ll see it better on TV anyway. And upon arrival, fans should expect that if they don’t please the officials, they’ll be put straight on the next flight home. If they’re lucky.” In his X post, Blatter quoted Pieth and added, “I think Mark Pieth is right to question this World Cup.”The international soccer community's concerns about the United States stem from Trump's expansionist posture on Greenland, travel bans and aggressive tactics in dealing with migrants and immigration enforcement protestors in American cities, particularly Minneapolis.Two weeks ago, travel plans for fans from two of the top soccer countries in Africa were thrown into disarray when the Trump administration announced a ban that would effectively bar people from Senegal and Ivory Coast from following their teams unless they already have visas. Trump cited Fans from Iran and Haiti, two other countries that have qualified for the World Cup, will be barred from entering the United States as well; they were included in the first iteration of the travel ban announced by the Trump administration. FIFA said that $60 tickets will be made available for every game at the tournament in North America, going to the national federations whose teams are playing.
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