FIFA not considering changing World Cup's host cities: 'It's FIFA's tournament, FIFA makes those decisions'

The president of Concacaf on Wednesday insisted that President Trump's suggestion he might strip World Cup games from host cities he does not like has not been taken into consideration by FIFA.

Speaking in the Oval Office last week, Trump responded to a question about "immigration, crime and the World Cup" in lengthy fashion, addressing cities such as San Francisco and Seattle that will host games as well as Chicago and Memphis which the tournament will not visit. He concluded by warning "if I think [a host city] isn't safe, we'll move it into a different city, absolutely."

The federal government, however, is unable to unilaterally break the agreements around the World Cup, which are signed between host cities, 11 of which are in the U.S., and FIFA directly. As such Victor Montagliani, president of North American soccer's governing body and a FIFA vice president, dismissed the possibility of FIFA responding to Trump's threat.

"If I have to react every time a politician makes a statement, whether it's a president, a senator, a congressman or even in my country and Mexico, then I wouldn't be doing my job," he said at The Summit, part of Leaders Week London 2025. "We're focused on the 16 venues and making sure they're ready to go.

"He is the president, fair enough, and words are a little heavier when it's a president, but from an operational perspective it wasn't really taken into consideration.

"At the end of the day it's FIFA's tournament, FIFA makes those decisions. Even in the early days when we were deciding on the cities, it was our decisions based on the standards. If FIFA wanted to, for whatever reason, move a knockout game, it is ultimately their jurisdiction."

Next summer's tournament will be the biggest World Cup ever, expanded to 48 teams playing across 16 venues in the USA, Canada and Mexico. Montagliani revealed that hospitality sales for the stadium are "through the roof" but there will be further questions for host cities to address before the tournament kicks off at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City on June 11.

Many of these became apparent at last summer's Club World Cup, which shared five venues with the World Cup proper. Visiting fans could face issues getting to venues such as Miami's Hard Rock Stadium and AT&T Stadium in Arlington, where public transport facilities are limited. Montagliani insists that will change. "The World Cup is a bigger footprint, bigger planning. There's a bigger public transportation component to a World Cup [compared to the Club World Cup]. The cities are more involved. It's apples and oranges, comparing it. I'm not really concerned about that. I know there's plans in place for all that."

There was a less bullish assessment of the state of the field ahead of next summer's tournament. At the Club World Cup Paris Saint-Germain boss Luis Enrique compared Seattle's Lumen Field, which will host six games including at least one involving the USMNT, to "an NBA court full of holes". A year earlier at the Copa America Emiliano Martinez labelled Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium as "a disaster".

Montagliani said: "Pitches, I gotta be honest here, this is the first time I've heard of there was any issues with pitches, I thought they were actually quite good, maybe not perfect, They withstood more than … even, for instance, New York [which will host the World Cup final], because they had quite a few matches there."