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NERMEEN SHAIKH : This is Democracy Now! I’m Nermeen Shaikh in New York, with Amy Goodman in Sheffield, England.
The FIFA Men’s World Cup kicks off today with two games in Mexico. Mexico plays South Africa in Mexico City, and South Korea takes on the Czech Republic in Guadalajara. This will be the biggest World Cup in history, with teams from 48 countries playing over a hundred games in 16 host cities across three countries — Canada, Mexico and the United States. This is also the first time a host nation is at war with a participating country, the United States and Iran.
AMY GOODMAN : Policies from the Trump administration, as well as the football federation FIFA , are making the people’s game more inaccessible than ever. There’s already the most expensive World Cup in history, this is. And Trump’s harsh immigration policies are having a chilling effect on the games. There are 39 countries that are under either a full or partial travel ban, four of which — Iran; Haiti; Côte d’Ivoire, the Ivory Coast; and Senegal — are expected to play in the World Cup.
Earlier this week, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani commented on the mounting barriers faced by the World Cup fans and soccer players from countries facing Trump’s travel ban and visa restrictions.
MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI : The World Cup is supposed to be a celebration of the world as a whole. And some of the decisions that we’ve seen been taken by the federal administration, be it the denial of visas for journalists from certain countries or the rejection of a visa for a coach of a team, as well as single-day visas for specific foreign national teams, this is anathema to what this tournament is supposed to be about. If we cannot even allow the players, the teams and the journalists covering those teams to come into this city and this country, then it begs a larger question about our commitment to the spirit of this tournament.
NERMEEN SHAIKH : On Wednesday, President Trump described the 2026 World Cup as the, quote, “most successful World Cup they’ve had.” He was later questioned by a journalist over the visa restrictions.
REPORTER : Some people are afraid that it’s going to be harder and harder to get visas to come from outside. Can you reassure them —
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP : We’ll, we’re going to — we’re working on it very closely to make sure the right people come into our country.
AMY GOODMAN : Among those affected are at least 15 officials and support staff for the Iranian team, forcing the team to train in Tijuana, Mexico, instead of in the U.S., and the Somali referee Omar Artan, who was denied entry into the United States. He was going to be the first Somali referee to officiate in a World Cup game. But there’s this breaking news: Canada has invited him to referee in Canada for the World Cup.
For more on all of this, we’ll be joined by three guests. As thousands of protesters are expected to disrupt the opening game of the World Cup in Mexico City, we’ll be joined there by José Luis Granados Ceja of Drop Site News . And amidst rising fears of administration raids in cities hosting the World Cup, we’ll be joined from Philadelphia by Nelini Stamp of the Working Families Party and Our Copa. But first to Paris, France, where we’re joined by Jules Boykoff, author of Red Card: The 2026 World Cup, Sportswashing, and the FIFA Greed Machine , as well as Kicking , a memoir about his former life as a professional soccer player. He represented the U.S. on the men’s U-23 national soccer team in international competition.
Jules, welcome back to Democracy Now! Why don’t you just introduce us to this first day of the game and the contradictions we see between the people’s game and the massive sums people have to pay for tickets, the fact that it’s the first time that a host country is at war with a participating country, and the restrictions the U.S. has put on Iran, ICE ? Lay it out for us.
JULES BOYKOFF : The 2026 World Cup arrives wrapped in a paradox. On one hand, there will be more teams participating than ever before, 48 countries from around the world. On the other hand, this World Cup is shaping up to be one of extreme exclusion. Working-class fans basically have no chance of buying a ticket to these games because of the exorbitant prices. You’ve got people from countries like Iran, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Haiti, who have absolutely zero chance of getting a visa for this tournament. And you have people who have chosen not to come to the United States because they fear getting scooped up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
So, this is a tournament that’s supposed to bring the world together, but instead, what we’re seeing in the lead-up to this game is that you have a tournament of fear, you have a World Cup of exclusion, and you have a World Cup of chaos. And the two main chaos agents to be aware of here are, one, President Donald Trump of the United States — he has made it absolute…
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