A few days after a team of locally based players had secured Bafana Bafana their berth at the 2026 World Cup that — tariffs not withstanding and visas pending — will be held in Mexico, Canada and the Disunited States of America, came the news that Donald Trump is considering changing the US refugee system to favour white folk.
The New York Times obtained documents that show the “Trump administration is considering a radical overhaul of the US refugee system that would slash the programme to its bare bones while giving preference to English speakers, white South Africans and Europeans who oppose migration”.
Oppose migration to become a migrant. It’s Trump logic in six words — contradictory, nonsensical, racist and a view of the world so shallow the horizon barely extends beyond that red tie.
Trump has been on the full “look at me” juggernaut these last two weeks, talking a lot, not saying much, and promising a grand peace plan that is thin on detail and grand on a hunger for ratings and likes.
After Gaza, he has now set his sights on imposing his “peace” on his own land with the National Guard and US immigration and customs enforcement (Ice). This week, at a meeting with Argentinian President Javier Milei, he once again suggested he would move World Cup matches away from cities he deemed “unsafe”. Not content with that, he also threatened to take the 2028 Olympics from Los Angeles if California state governor Gavin Newsom didn’t “get his act together”.
Quite what that means is anyone’s guess, but whether he has the power to tell Fifa or the International Olympic Committee what to do is less so. What happens to the Olympics is up to Kirsty Coventry and her merry band of members. Newsome has been on a wickedly funny campaign on social media to push back at Trump.
“If I thought LA was not going to be prepared properly, I would move it to another location if I had to,” he said. “On that one I’d probably have to get a different kind of permission, but we would do that.”
Trump and budgets. Trump and logistics. Trump and his need to be a king. Fifa’s Victor Montagliani pushed back against Little Hands’ claims that he could move World Cup games out of Boston. There is the small matter of government interference in football, which Fifa holds fast as a no-no.
“It’s Fifa’s tournament, Fifa’s jurisdiction; Fifa makes those decisions,” Montagliani said at a conference in London. “With all due respect to current world leaders, football is bigger than them, and football will survive their regime and their government and their slogans. That’s the beauty of our game, that it is bigger than any individual and bigger than any country.”
He had reckoned without Trump’s fluffer, Fifa president Gianni Infantino, of whom Trump said: “If I feel there’s unsafe conditions, I would call Gianni — the head of Fifa, who’s phenomenal — and I would say ‘let’s move it to another location,’ and he would do that. He wouldn’t love to do it, but he’d do it very easily.”
Fifa did not deny nor confirm that Trump could move matches, telling Sky News: “Safety and security are the top priorities at all Fifa events worldwide. Safety and security are obviously the government’s responsibility, and they decide what is in the best interest for public safety.” Way to say something and nothing, Fifa! You’ve learnt well from Trump.
Infantino was at the Gaza summit, at which he was the only sports administrator and the only person without any political position. He is an acolyte, a Trump shoe kisser whom the US president has called the “King of Soccer”.
The 2026 World Cup in the US is gearing up to be a tournament played by black and white players for white folk in destinations yet to be determined. It’s already a mess, and not a ball has been kicked.
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