Montagliani made the comments to an audience at The Summit, part of Leaders Week London. The Canadian was clear in his message to the Whitehouse; they have no jurisdiction over which cities will host games in the 2026 World Cup.
“It’s FIFA’s tournament, FIFA’s jurisdiction, FIFA makes those decisions,” he said. “With all due respect to current world leaders, football is bigger than them and football will survive their regime and their government and their slogans.”
The 2026 World Cup will be hosted jointly between Canada, the US and Mexico.
The Trump administration has pursued a number of policies which could cause issues for football’s governing body. In the past few months, he has deployed the National Guard in several cities which he has claimed are currently experiencing high levels of crime. Deployments began in Los Angeles in June 2025. Some 2,000 National Guardsmen were sent into the Californian metropolis to deal with protests against raids on undocumented migrants. The national guard was also deployed in Washington DC in August. The US’ capital city is not a host city for the 2026 World Cup.
Trump has suggested he will pursue the same course of action in other host cities Chicago, New York and San Francisco.
Montagliani was specifically responding to comments Trump made last week about San Francisco and Seattle. At a press conference in the Oval Office, Trump was asked about safety ahead in those cities ahead of the World Cup.
Trump said: “It will be safe for the World Cup. If I think it isn’t safe, we’ll move it to a different city.
“If any city we think is going to be even a little bit dangerous for the World Cup, or for the Olympics, but for the World Cup in particular, because they’re playing in so many cities, we won’t allow it to go. We’ll move it around a little bit.”
The majority of the tournament’s fixtures will be held in the US. Some 78 of the 104 games, including the final, will be played across 11 host cities: Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle.
Looking specifically at the cities mentioned by Trump in the press conference, Seattle and San Francisco will host six games during the tournament, with Los Angeles hosting eight fixtures.
The comments come as the latest intervention from Trump ahead of FIFA’s marquee event.
In March, he claimed the political and economic tensions between the US and its co-hosts Canada and Mexico would be a good thing for the tournament. That came after his administration imposed tariffs on the US’ neighbouring countries.
In May, he suggested that Russia should be allowed to play at the tournament as it could act as an “incentive” to end the war in Ukraine. FIFA and UEFA has banned the Russian Football Federation from competing in its tournaments since it invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
During the summer, Trump sparked headlines by inserting himself into Chelsea‘s celebrations after winning the Club World Cup at MetLife Stadium, the New Jersey stadium which will also host the World Cup final.
Montagliani’s comments are the first indication of possible discord between football’s governing body and the Trump administration. FIFA president Gianni Infantino has enjoyed a cordial relationship with the ‘Leader of the Free World’ since he re-took office in January of this year. It is unclear how far Trump will go in pursuing the removal of games from specific cities, or if FIFA will be willing to enter into a legal battle to protect the interests of those hosts.
