Former FIFA Official: “Stay Away From The U.S.A.”

For soccer fans, this is big news. The FIFA World Cup will be hosted by the United States, Mexico, and Canada in June. Tournament games will be played in all three countries, but the finals will be hosted at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Over half a billion tickets for the various games in the six-week-long tournament have been made available through FIFA. The United States is expecting more than 5 million international visitors. To help work through the travel visas, the U.S. State Department has activated the FIFA Priority Appointment Schedule System, or FIFA PASS.

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The U.S. currently bans travelers from 21 countries, including some countries (Brazil, Egypt, Columbia and Iran) that have teams that have qualified for the tournament. While exemptions have been made for the teams, their coaches, and families, there are no exemptions for fans of the team.

But there’s controversy brewing in the soccer world. That controversy is starting to sound a lot like a boycott.

It started with comments from Mark Peith, a Swiss-German attorney who worked closely with FIFA in their reform process a few years back. In an interview with Swiss outlet Tages-Anzeiger, he cited the recent killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis as a reason foreign fans may not be safe in the U.S.

Conditions that make a country highly unsafe have always existed. But in the case of the U.S., this was not expected. If we take everything we’ve discussed, there is only one piece of advice for fans: stay away from the U.S. You’ll see it better on television anyway. And when entering the country, fans should expect that if officials do not like them, they could be sent home on the next plane—if they are lucky.

That uncertainty was escalated when the Department of Homeland Security proposed a rule that would expand the personal and social media information foreign visitors would be required to submit when requesting a VISA for the games. If implemented, the new proposal would give Homeland Security the ability to screen travelers' social media posts for any sign of "anti-American" sentiment.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is on the record saying that purchasing a ticket to a game is not a guarantee that you’ll be allowed into the United States.

Earlier this week, those concerns were elevated when Former International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) president Sepp Blatter, who posted on X:

For the fans, there's only one piece of advice: stay away from the USA!' I think Mark Pieth is right to question this World Cup.

At this time, national governments are resisting the idea of a boycott. The focus now is on the last few qualifying games scheduled through late March.

Here’s my opinion:

If you’re not an American citizen, listen up: there’s about 15% of Americans that are really on the “get the illegal immigrants out” kick, and about 15% on the “love thy neighbor” kick. 70% of Americans don’t give a care either way, we’re working too hard to put groceries on the table.

This is a big country, with something for everyone. Imagine someone from Europe going to a game in Southern California, and then another in St. Louis. That’s a whole different world. This is a great country to visit, and with the exception of a small but vocal minority, full of nice people who would love for you to spend some time in their community. That’s the REAL America. This chaos is a distraction from the real problems; it’s not how we really roll.

Your thoughts are always welcome. Leave a comment on social media or email me here.