United States President Donald Trump has called on FIFA to award a future FIFA Men’s World Cup exclusively to the United States, saying the tournament should return to the country without being co-hosted by Canada and Mexico.
Trump made the remarks on Friday during a FIFA World Cup reception held at Trump Tower in New York ahead of Sunday’s World Cup final between Spain and Argentina. Addressing FIFA President Gianni Infantino and other guests, the U.S. president praised the global football tournament before making his proposal for future editions.
“You should choose the United States of America again. This time we will leave Canada and Mexico out,” Trump said.
He further suggested that FIFA award the tournament to another country before bringing it back to the United States.
“Pick somebody else for the next one, and that will take some of the anger, hatred and steam out of everyone,” he added.
Trump also revealed that Infantino had discussed the possibility of a future World Cup jointly hosted by the United States and China.
“But Gianni also had another idea. He said we could do China and United States, so you have a nice short flight between games. The players would love that,” Trump said.
The next FIFA Men’s World Cup open for bidding is the 2038 edition. FIFA has already awarded the 2030 tournament to Spain, Portugal and Morocco, with Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay hosting the opening matches as part of the competition’s centenary celebrations. Saudi Arabia is set to stage the 2034 FIFA World Cup.
Under FIFA’s continental rotation policy, countries from North America and Oceania will be eligible to bid to host the 2038 tournament, with the formal bidding process expected to commence several years before the event.
Credit: Vanguard
