The 2026 World Cup hasn't started yet, and it's already failing people. Not tactically. Not administratively. At the border.
Trump's administration has imposed full or partial travel bans on 39 countries. Four of them — Haiti, Iran, Senegal, and Côte d'Ivoire — qualified for the tournament. The consequences are already playing out in airport interrogation rooms and consular offices, and what's happening there matters far beyond the football.
Iran can only enter on matchday
Iran's situation is the most operationally disruptive. The team secured visas, but under conditions that make normal World Cup preparation essentially impossible. According to Iran's ambassador to Mexico, players are permitted to cross into the United States only on the day of their matches — and must leave immediately after the final whistle.
The practical result: Iran's training base has been moved from Tucson, Arizona, to Tijuana, Mexico. The team will commute across the border to play group stage games, then return. That's not preparation for a major tournament. That's a logistical ordeal dressed up as accommodation.
It gets worse. Fifteen members of the Iranian delegation — federal officials and support staff — are still waiting for visas. Others have reportedly been denied outright.
For any side trying to run a coherent World Cup campaign, that level of uncertainty around your own delegation is a genuine competitive disadvantage. Iran's odds of advancing from the group stage don't look better after this.
Iraq's striker detained for seven hours. Somalia's best referee sent home.
Aymen Hussein — the striker whose goals helped Iraq reach the World Cup — was held at Chicago's O'Hare Airport for roughly seven hours before being cleared to enter. He didn't stay quiet about it. Hussein publicly questioned why the US chose to host a World Cup given its attitude toward foreign nationals from certain countries. Hard to argue with him.
Then there's Omar Abdulkadir Artan. Named the best African referee of 2025 by the Confederation of African Football, Artan was set to become the first Somali national to referee a World Cup match. He landed in Miami with a diplomatic passport and a FIFA-issued visa. He was denied entry anyway, over what US Customs and Border Protection vaguely described as "vetting concerns."
Artan wasn't a fan. He wasn't a delegation official with a complicated background. He was a match official personally selected by FIFA referees' committee president Pierluigi Collina. The symbolism of that denial is hard to overstate.
FIFA's response? They acknowledged CBP's decision and said immigration is the responsibility of host nations. Which is technically true and practically useless.
Iraq's official team photographer, Talal Salah, was also denied entry after ten hours at Chicago airport. CBP confirmed it. No further explanation.
- Aymen Hussein (Iraq, striker): detained ~7 hours at O'Hare, eventually cleared
- Talal Salah (Iraq, team photographer): denied entry after ~10 hours of screening
- Omar Abdulkadir Artan (Somalia, FIFA referee): denied entry in Miami despite diplomatic passport and valid visa
- Iran delegation: 15+ members still awaiting or denied visas; team relocated training camp to Tijuana
- Senegal squad: subjected to individual searches and shoe removal upon arrival
- Uzbekistan delegation: lined up outside their bus at Icahn Stadium for individual searches, luggage checks, and metal detectors before a pre-tournament friendly
Amnesty International is watching FIFA
Amnesty International has accused FIFA of failing to demand binding guarantees from host states on fundamental rights — not just for players, but for the millions of fans who will attempt to travel to matches. The organization argues FIFA's own human rights commitments require it to push back on host governments, not issue statements about jurisdictional responsibility.
The 2026 World Cup was framed as the most inclusive in history — three countries, one continent, a celebration of the game across North America. Whether that framing survives contact with the next six weeks is a very open question.
Artan told The New York Times he "had the right papers" and showed border officials his FIFA documentation. He was sent home anyway.
