Donald Trump warns he’ll move World Cup soccer games out of ‘unsafe’ cities – Chicago Tribune

President Donald Trump suggested on Thursday that he could try to move matches at the FIFA World Cup 2026 – one of the biggest sporting events in the world – far from some of the American cities which are currently planning to welcome, because of his concerns about security.

It would seem that the president has something in common with television producers, NFL fans outside the state and others, confusing San Francisco, the city of Baie, with Santa Clara, the Stade Levi’s Stade Maison, about 45 miles to the south, where the games should take place in June and July next year.

But Trump’s comments that he could decide to leave the games of the cities he considers “even a little dangerous” has created at least a little concern about whether the calendar will remain as a game.

Trump made the comment on Thursday during a rally of journalists at the Oval Office, and was specifically asked about the games to play in the Seattle and San Francisco regions.

He said that the cities are “directed by radical left madmen who do not know what they are doing”, and added that “if a city, we think we are even a little dangerous for the World Cup”, then “we do not allow it”.

The president’s opinions on San Francisco could signify an economic loss for Santa Clara despite their distance: Levi’s Stadium is 44 miles south of the city center of San Francisco.

It was not difficult to know if the threat concerning the World Cup in the summer of 2026, would mean in the same way that the president would seek to have the Super Bowl LX – planned for Levi’s Stadium on February 8, 2026 – moved elsewhere. The managers of the host committee in the Bay region could not be joined to comment.

Managers of the city of Santa Clara did not immediately respond to a request for comments on Friday, and a message left for the police chief of Santa Clara, Cory Morgan, was not returned immediately.

As the dangerous cities go, Santa Clara does not jump forward on the list in the bay region. In August, the city had not recorded homicide in 2025. It had recorded reports of 13 rapes or sexual assaults and 42 flights, according to the city archives.

In San Francisco until August, there had been 15 registered homicides, 128 rapes or sexual assaults; and 1,111 flights. In the city, homicides fell by 32%, rapes or sexual assault fell by 22% and theft decreased by 24% compared to the same period in 2024.

Trump did not comment on the logistics of the change of sites. But he cited his policies, in particular the presence of the National Guard at Washington DC, which he claimed to make the country safer before the World Cup and said that he would not hesitate to do something similar again.

“As you probably know, we are going to Memphis and we are going to other cities,” Trump told journalists at the oval office. “Very soon, we are going to Chicago. It will be sure for the World Cup. If I think it’s not sure, we will move it to a different city, absolutely.”

Chicago should not welcome any match for the 2026 World Cup. Games are planned in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York / New Jersey, Philadelphia, the San Francisco and Seattle region.

The show of every four years takes place from June 11 to July 19 and is also organized by Canada and Mexico, the first time in the history of the event that three nations organized jointly. This is the first time that the male World Cup has been played in the United States since 1994.