A huge international soccer event is being held in the United States; FIFA is hosting the inaugural reformatted Club World Cup, and the Trump administration took all but a couple of weeks to tank the entire thing. One misguided, now-deleted tweet was all it took for ticket prices to tumble from hundreds of dollars to about $4 each.
There are layers to this. FIFA is hosting the World Cup partly in the USA in 2026, and as a precursor to that tournament, the international organization booked a club version featuring teams from every corner of the globe. The announcement was initially warmly received, and the trophy presentation even took place at the White House in the presence of President Trump.
There was a $50 million marketing push — but despite that effort, sales were already being described as lackluster. The organization was reportedly even considering booking Drake to counter Kendrick’s Super Bowl halftime performance. But instead of figuring out a way to put real muscle behind pushing what is undoubtedly a prestigious soccer tournament, the Trump administration had different ideas. The opening match — which featured soccer legend Lionel Messi, no less—struggled so badly to sell tickets that they ended up offering five for $20 to college students. And even then, it didn’t sell out.
@cbssportsgolazo With the Club World Cup underway, empty seats have not gone unnoticed
♬ original sound – CBS Sports Golazo#soccer #football #clubworldcup
According to HuffPost, it wasn’t just bad luck or bad vibes — it was federal agencies that actually kneecapped the marketing push during FIFA’s critical promotional window. Trump’s aggressively hardline immigration policies had already triggered mass protests and National Guard deployment, so it wasn’t a stretch to imagine there’d be ripple effects. Still, FIFA couldn’t have predicted just how callous the administration would be in torpedoing their tournament.
Soccer is the world’s most beloved sport, anchored in a belief that it brings people together. FIFA, for all its flaws, has staged tournaments in the Middle East and Africa under heavy criticism and still pushed a unifying message. So imagine the whiplash when U.S. Customs and Border Protection posted online that their agents were “suited and booted” for the tournament — and ICE followed up by announcing it would also be providing security. Interest in the tournament flatlined almost immediately. The vibe shifted from “global celebration” to “state-sponsored sting operation.”
CBP has since deleted the tweet, but ICE told the media that all non-U.S. citizens attending matches should carry proof of their legal status with them to the stadium. According to reports, FIFA officials behind the scenes are deeply frustrated by how Trump is handling the responsibility of hosting their tournament — and they were reportedly the ones who pushed for the CBP post to be taken down.
On X, longtime fans have started giving up altogether — many are now calling for the U.S. leg of the 2026 World Cup to be canceled. Their reason? “We’re simply not equipped to host international tourists right now.”
They should cancel the US World Cup matches. We’re simply not equipped to host international tourists right now.
— Shane (@shizzyshane215) June 16, 2025
Fan clubs have reportedly even been quietly pushing for boycotts of the tournament, citing the unusually hostile and unwelcoming atmosphere the Trump administration has created. Fans are now faced with a choice between the sport they love and political grandstanding. Which is funny, considering this is the same administration full of people who once hounded Colin Kaepernick for kneeling during the national anthem — constantly demanding that politics stay out of sports.
