&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "'Anathema to football': Mamdani's explosive attack on Trump's World Cup policies")
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani has slammed the Trump administration over its aggressive immigration policies ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026. Mamdani called out Trump, calling out the policies of denial of visas from certain countries, barring referees and allowing one-day expiry visa reflects the bureaucracy's conflict with “the spirit of this tournament”.
“Some of the decisions that we’ve seen have been taken by the federal administration — be it the denial of visas for journalists from certain countries, or the rejection of a visa for a coach of a team, as well as single-day visas for specific foreign national teams — this is anathema to what this tournament is supposed to be about,” said Mamdani.
Mamdani's statement comes to a New York Times reporter's question about Trump's “border czar”, Tom Homan's vow to surge immigration enforcement in the five boroughs. "I made her a promise: you're going to see more ICE agents than you've ever seen in New York City, and it's coming," said Tom Homan to Fox News. Mamdani denounced the raid and claimed that he had shared his concerns directly with the President.
Zohran Mamdani, who had been a lifelong football fan, has said in a social media post, “Soccer would not exist without immigrants”. He emphasised that the whole football ecosystem was built around immigrants, from players, coaches, to the maintenance staff at the arena and the fans that fill the stadiums.
The FIFA World Cup has been plagued by controversy
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Even before the kick-off of the tournament, it has been plagued by disruptions. The World Cup, which is being hosted jointly by Mexico, Canada and the US, has faced controversy around the ticket pricing. There had been accusations of unprecedented corporate greed, deceptive sales practices, and a "monumental betrayal" of football's working-class fanbase. Ticket prices for the 2026 World Cup are up to seven times more expensive than the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. New York and New Jersey Attorney Generals have launched an investigation, subpoenaing FIFA for internal communications regarding ticket sales at MetLife Stadium.
Further, there have been controversies around the visa allocation and treatment by US law enforcement. Iran was allowed a daily expiration visa, and 15 members of the Iranian delegation were denied visas. They were not allowed to host training camps. Iraq's Aymen Hussein was detained at the O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, while the team’s official photographer was deported after being held for 12 hours. A top-tier Somali referee was deported. The Senegal and Uzbekistan delegations reported degrading treatment by US law enforcement during their entry processing.
