One Year Out, 2026 FIFA World Cup Cities Monitor Fan Travel

NEW YORK — With one year to go before the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the 11 U.S. host cities are preparing celebrations or festivities to mark the key anniversary date. But despite the milestone, there is still plenty unknown.

Among other outstanding issues: The ticketing process is still mostly unclear, the date and location of the draw have yet to be revealed, and only a handful of teams have clinched spots in the expanded tournament to date.

And then there is the looming issue of an immigration crackdown by President Donald Trump’s administration and a travel ban on citizens from 12 countries, some of which may qualify for the tournament. Iran is the only targeted country to qualify so far for the World Cup being co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico while several other countries on the banned list are still in contention as the tournament expands to 48 nations and 104 games.

“There are certainly things that are happening at the national level, the international level,” said Philadelphia 2026 Host City Executive Meg Kane on Monday at a gathering of the U.S. host city leaders in New York. “There are going to be geopolitical issues that we don’t even know right now that are going affect the tournament next year, so we recognize that we’re planning within uncertainty.”

The travel ban makes exceptions for “any athlete or member of an athletic team, including coaches, persons performing a necessary support role and immediate relatives traveling for the World Cup, Olympics or other major sporting event as determined by the secretary of state.” It does not mention exceptions for fans wanting to attend the tournament.

“Our focus is really just, how do we welcome the world for an amazing World Cup experience next year?”said Jason Krutzsch, vice president for marketing and communications at the Los Angeles Sports & Entertainment Commission. “(Our focus is) for a safe and secure event and working with local public safety, federal, state (authorities) across the board to make sure that we can deliver an exceptional, safe and secure fan experience. At this point in time with one year to go, we’re still just laser focused on making sure we can deliver on that.”

Kane also noted the relationship between FIFA and the White House. FIFA President Gianni Infantino visited Trump in the Oval Office in March after a White House Task Force for the World Cup was announced. Infantino was also at the first meeting of the group in May and said “America will welcome the world. Everyone who wants to come here to enjoy, to have fun to celebrate the game, will be able to do that.”

At the same meeting, however, there was reaction to multiple mentions about the potential of visitors overstaying their welcome: “We want them to come, we want them to celebrate, we want them to watch the game,” said Vice President JD Vance. “But when the time is up, they’ll have to go home.”

Along with Iran, which has already qualified for next summer’s tournament, Cuba, Haiti and Sudan are in contention.

The overall process of fan entry into the United States has been an issue ahead of the World Cup. The White House’s task force order came two weeks after the U.S. Travel Association released a report saying the United States needed immediate action within the travel industry ahead of the 2025 Ryder Cup, 2026 FIFA World Cup, 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games and other events.

“One of the things that I think we all recognize is that we have to be really good at operating within that uncertainty,” Kane said. “For each of our cities, we want to be prepared to make any person that is coming and makes the decision to come to the United States or come to this World Cup feel that they are welcome.”