The legitimacy of the United States’ hosting of the 2026 World Cup is offside

The United States, by obstructing the entry of the national football teams of Iran and South Africa on political grounds, has called into question the legitimacy of its own hosting role. On May 31, 2026, the charter flight carrying South Africa’s national football team never took off from Johannesburg. At least 20 players and staff members, despite months of effort, had failed to obtain transit visas to pass through U.S. territory. The country’s sports minister stated bluntly: “We are being dribbled past.” This is not the first time that the U.S. visa bureaucracy has plunged into crisis on the eve of a major international event. This time, however, the crisis has ensnared not a peripheral state, but one of the […]