In the run-up to the World Cup draw, US President Donald Trump threatened to deprive democratically run cities such as Seattle and LA of World Cup games. However, he moved away from this again immediately before the draw on Friday evening.
“No, I don’t want to do that”said Trump at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC If there is actually a problem, it will be solved, said Trump. “I’ve proven this in Washington DC and everywhere else we’ve been, so we’ll get a handle on this quite easily.”
In the presence of the head of the world association, Gianni Infantino, Trump flirted with exactly this in November and particularly targeted Los Angeles and Seattle. He had announced that he would ban games from being held in US cities if they did not adhere to the safety rules he had prescribed. Infantino would make such a historic venue swap for him, he assured, in the presence of the FIFA President. “If we believe there are signs of problems, I would ask Gianni to move the event to another city”said Trump.
Liberal cities Seattle, Los Angeles and Boston – in the US President’s sights
Trump had put the long-established World Cup host cities up for discussion as part of his political campaign against the Democrats. Among other things, rump had agitated against Seattle after the Democrat Katie Wilson was elected as the new mayor there. He had also previously threatened the cities of Los Angeles and Boston.
Trump’s threats caused unrest, also because there are binding contracts between FIFA and the World Cup host cities. The world association could face high recourse claims if the cities are deprived of the World Cup games. Ticket sales have also started long ago.