The United States' bid to host the 2026 World Cup could be lost due to President Trump's travel restrictions on seven predominately Muslim countries, indicating that the reverberations of his 2017 executive order could be felt even long after he is out of office, The New York Times reports.
"It will be part of the evaluation, and I am sure it will not help the United States to get the World Cup," said FIFA vice president Aleksander Ceferin. "If players cannot come because of political decisions, or populist decisions, then the World Cup cannot be played there. It is true for the United States, but also for all the other countries that would like to organize a World Cup."
The threat is perhaps particularly striking because the two preceeding World Cups will be held in Russia, in 2018, and Qatar, in 2022 — both hotly controversial decisions:
2026 tournament bids must be submitted by December of next year. A decision will be announced in May 2020.