The former president of Fifa does not agree with the choices of his successor. Sepp Blatter said he was in favor of supporters not going to the United States during the 2026 World Cup (June 11-July 19) for security reasons, in a message published Monday on the social network X.
« For supporters, only one piece of advice: avoid the United States! I think Mark Pieth is right to question this World Cup,” wrote the former boss of the International Football Federation (1998-2015) using extracts from an interview with an anti-corruption lawyer given to the Swiss newspaper Tagesanzeiger.
“What we are seeing domestically – the marginalization of political opponents, the abuse of immigration services, etc. – hardly encourages supporters to go there,” Pieth said Thursday about the United States.
The Swiss lawyer, specialist in the fight against corruption and mandated by Blatter in 2011 and 2014 to provide suggestions for reforms to Fifa, wants to be clearer a few paragraphs below. “For supporters, only one piece of advice: avoid the United States! You’ll see better on TV anyway. Upon arrival, fans should expect that if they do not behave properly with the authorities, they will be sent home immediately. If they’re lucky…” he prophesied.
Infantino detractor
Blatter (89 years old), very critical of Gianni Infantino, the current president of Fifa, was his predecessor until 2015 and his resignation, swept away by a cascade of scandals. Accused in particular of fraud, Blatter, as well as Michel Platini, was definitively acquitted in 2025 by Swiss justice. The two former leaders were accused of having “illegally obtained, to the detriment of Fifa, a payment of 2 million Swiss francs” (1.8 million euros) “in favor of Michel Platini”, according to the Swiss prosecution.
Faced with tensions arising from the American desire to annex Greenland and threats of increased customs taxes against European states which oppose it, the first voices calling for a boycott – or even a cancellation – of the World Cup (organized in the United States, Mexico and Canada) are beginning to be heard in Europe.
Philippe Diallo, the president of the FFF, however affirmed in the columns of the daily Ouest-France on Sunday that there was “no desire on the part of the French Football Federation to boycott the World Cup in the United States”.
