Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter on Monday backed a proposed fan boycott of World Cup matches in the United States because of the conduct of President Donald Trump and his administration at home and abroad.
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 that supported Mark Pieth’s comments in an interview last week with the .
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, 鈥淚f we consider everything we鈥檝e discussed, there鈥檚 only one piece of advice for fans: Stay away from the USA! You鈥檒l see it better on TV anyway. And upon arrival, fans should expect that if they don鈥檛 please the officials, they鈥檒l be put straight on the next flight home. If they鈥檙e lucky.鈥�
In his X post, Blatter quoted Pieth and added, 鈥淚 think Mark Pieth is right to question this World Cup.鈥�
The United States is co-hosting the World Cup with Canada and Mexico from June 11-July 19.
The international soccer community’s concerns about the United States stem from Trump’s expansionist posture on Greenland, and travel bans and aggressive tactics in dealing with migrants and immigration enforcement protestors in American cities, particularly Minneapolis.
Oke G枚ttlich, one of the vice presidents of the German soccer federation, told the in an interview on Friday that the time had come to .
Travel plans for fans from two of the top soccer countries in Africa were in December, when the Trump administration that would effectively bar people from Senegal and Ivory Coast following their teams unless they already have visas. Trump cited as the main reason for the suspensions.
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.
___
This story was corrected to clarify that the Trump administration announced its expanded travel restrictions in December, not two weeks ago.
___
AP soccer:
Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
