Trump could pull 2026 World Cup matches from Seattle and San Francisco

President Donald Trump warned on Thursday that he could remove matches from 2026 World Cup host cities he deems unsafe, singling out Seattle and the San Francisco area during a White House briefing and suggesting federal pressure could force changes to the tournament schedule. Speaking from the Oval Office, Trump said he would "make sure they're safe" and that "if I think it isn't safe, we'll move it out of that city," calling the two cities "run by radical left lunatics who don't know what they're doing."

Seattle's Lumen Field and Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, near San Francisco, are each scheduled to host six matches at next summer's expanded 48-team World Cup, which the United States will cohost with Canada and Mexico. The tournament draw is due to take place on December 5 in Washington, D.C., and the first matches begin in June. Other U.S. host cities include Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York-New Jersey and Philadelphia, while Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey will stage games in Mexico and Toronto and Vancouver will do so in Canada.

A reporter raised Seattle and San Francisco as examples of cities that have clashed with the...