WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Friday that the draw for the 2026 World Cup will take place on Dec. 5 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, and didn't rule out that he himself might oversee the event.
“It’s the biggest, probably the biggest event in sports, I guess,” said Trump, who made the announcement in an Oval Office event where he was joined by FIFA President Gianni Infantino and Vice President JD Vance.
The U.S. is co-hosting next year's tournament — which for the first time will feature 48 national teams up from 32 — with Canada and Mexico. The draw event will determine the World Cup's groups, and the games each team plays in the opening round.
Infantino said the 48 teams will play “104 matches in one month” and likened it to “104 Super Bowls.” Trump picked up on that theme, saying, “It's like having many Super Bowls in a short period of time, because each one of these games, essentially, is a Super Bowl. Some of them are bigger than Super Bowls, actually.”
The World Cup kicks off June 11 at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City and runs through the final on July 19 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Games will be played in 16 cities across the three countries. Washington, D.C., is not among the host cities.
Trump said that the Kennedy Center “will give a phenomenal kickoff and we'll be involved.” Asked if he'd be the one actually drawing the team names, Trump didn't answer directly but deferred to Infantino, saying the FIFA chief “was the boss.”
Infantino said, “It's a very interesting proposal,” and he indicated that he and Trump would discuss the matter further.
The choice of venue is interesting because Trump has taken over the Kennedy Center, installing himself as chair and replacing the board of trustees with loyalists. He’s also hinted he’d like to see the venue renamed the Trump/Kennedy Center.
There had been speculation for months that the draw would be held in Las Vegas. The event is traditionally a mix of entertainment and the business of dividing the teams into 12 groups of four for the opening stage of the tournament. When the United States held the World Cup in 1994, the draw was held at the Las Vegas Convention Center and Stevie Wonder was among the performers.
In December when the draw is held, 42 of the 48 teams will be known, including the automatic berths given to the United States, Mexico and Canada as hosts. The remaining six teams will be determined by playoffs in March.
The president also used Friday's FIFA announcement to boast about his deploying the National Guard and federalizing Washington's police force.
“So now, when we have this beautiful event in December, it's going to be very safe,” Trump said. He added that the FIFA chief “can walk down the street with your beautiful wife. You can take her to dinner, if you can get a reservation.”
Asked about fans overseas obtaining U.S. visas to come watch their teams in the World Cup, Trump at first said the process would be a smooth one, but then added, “Certain countries are going to be very, very easy, and other countries are going to be obviously a little bit more difficult.”
A travel ban that the Trump administration imposed in June includes Iran, which has qualified for the World Cup. The policy makes exceptions for “any athlete or member of an athletic team, including coaches, persons performing a necessary support role, and immediate relatives, traveling for the World Cup, Olympics, or other major sporting event as determined by the secretary of state.” It does not include an exemption for fans.
In an unusual move, Infantino also brought the World Cup trophy with him to the Oval Office. It’s a superstition nearly as old as the World Cup itself: players on national teams around the globe believe that touching the trophy before their team actually wins the tournament on the field can spark bad luck.
Even Infantino noted that the trophy is “for winners only,” but then he added to Trump, “And, since you are a winner, of course you can as well.”
The president did just that, calling the trophy “a beautiful piece of gold” and joking about keeping it and displaying it in the Oval Office, which Trump has redone in a gaudy, gold-hued decor.
“It fits very well right on the wall over there,” Trump said.
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Will Weissert, The Associated Press
