Donald Trump has threatened to pull World Cup matches from Boston, claiming on Tuesday that sections of the city had been “taken over” by recent unrest and criticizing its mayor.
The city is scheduled to host seven games as the US co-hosts the 2026 World Cup alongside Mexico and Canada.
When questioned about Boston’s mayor, Michelle Wu, a Democrat whom he described as “intelligent” but “radical left,” Trump stated: “We could take them away.” He added, “I love the people of Boston, and I know the games are sold out. But your mayor is not good.”
Without providing specifics, he suggested “they’re taking over parts of Boston,” before asserting “we could get them back in about two seconds.”
Wu's office did not respond to a message seeking comment.
Trump's comments came during his meeting with Argentina's president, and it wasn't immediately clear what he was referring to. Earlier this month, however, there were multiple arrests in connection with a pro-Palestinian protest that turned violent on the Boston Common, in which four police officers were injured.
Trump has previously suggested he could declare cities “not safe” for the 104-game soccer tournament and alter a detailed hosting plan that FIFA confirmed in 2022. It includes NFL stadiums near New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
World Cup host sites aren't up to Trump. The 11 U.S. cities — plus three in Mexico and two in Canada — are contracted with FIFA, which would face significant logistical and legal issues to make changes in the eight months before the June 11 kickoff.
“It’s FIFA’s tournament, FIFA’s jurisdiction, FIFA makes those decisions,” the soccer body’s vice president Victor Montagliani said Wednesday at a sports business conference in London.
Trump nonetheless said, “If somebody is doing a bad job, and if I feel there’s unsafe conditions, I would call Gianni – the head of FIFA who’s phenomenal -- and I would say, ‘Let’s move into another location’ and they would do that.”
The president meant FIFA head Gianni Infantino, a close ally. Trump said Infantino “wouldn’t love to do it, but he’d do it very easily.”
The Trump administration has already deployed National Guard troops to Washington and Memphis, and efforts to do so in Chicago and Portland, Oregon, have sparked legal fights.
