American cities still owed millions of dollars from FIFA as World Cup hosts demand payment

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FT Desk

World Cup host cities from the United States are still chasing millions of dollars worth of payments from FIFA that they were promised ahead of the 2026 World Cup.

The USA staged fixtures across 11 host cities: Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Seattle. The tournament was co-hosted with Canada and Mexico, with the US hosting the majority of the matches, including the final at New York/New Jersey Stadium in East Rutherford.

Before and during the tournament and even up until now, there have been financial issues between those host cities and FIFA. The main concerns from the cities were around infrastructure, security and travel as it was the job of the 11 locations to fund all these factors, despite the millions of extra football fans descending on the areas.

New York and New Jersey received criticism for bumping up the prices of travel to and from matches at MetLife Stadium from the centre of the city in New York but they defended that choice, saying it was necessary to raise infrastructure funds which FIFA didn't provide.

Before the 2025 Club World Cup, which also took place in the USA, FIFA President Gianni Infantino promised host cities a $1 million contribution, which was described at the time as a "legacy contribution".

2026 World Cup host cities then asked if they would receive a similar contribution for a tournament that would prove much more costly.

According to The Athletic, host cities were privately told by senior officials at FIFA that they would also receive $1m, even though no confirmation of that was made public.

Four executives, who wished to remain anonymous, revealed the promise.

According to The Athletic, executives from two World Cup host cities questioned why FIFA had been slow to commit to, or approve, what they described as comparatively small payments compared to FIFA's $15 billion in revenue during the 2023-26 financial cycle.

While FIFA took most of the revenue from ticketing, media rights, sponsorship, concessions and parking, cities and taxpayers paid for security, transportation, logistics and infrastructure.

Infantino called to House Judiciary Committee

A senior Democratic member of Congress has called on Infantino to testify before the House Judiciary Committee, renewing efforts to examine the football governing body's ties to Donald Trump and the Trump administration.

Over the last 18 months, Infantino has grown closer to Trump and that has made many critics uncomfortable as FIFA is supposed to be a politically neutral organisation.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, has now asked FIFA to hand over all records of its communications with President Trump, members of his administration and the Trump Organization, the president's family business, by 9 August 2026.

According to The Athletic, who have viewed the letter to FIFA, Rep. Raskin requests Infantino produce “a list of anything of value (including transfer of money, gifts, prizes, awards, or public appearances) given to President Trump, members of his Administration, or their family members, or any entity associated with them, such as The Trump Organization.”

The Congressman says his letter “serves as notice” for all communications to be preserved “between FIFA personnel and individuals affiliated with the Trump Administration or its inaugural committee — including disappearing messages exchanged on ephemeral communication platforms, such as Signal, Telegram, WhatsApp, X, and Truth Social.”

Visitor logs from FIFA's offices in Miami and New York City, the latter being part of Trump Tower, must also be handed over.

The White House has responded to the request in typically brash fashion.

“Lightweight Jamie Raskin (is) a stupid person’s idea of a smart person,” spokesman Davis Ingle said to The Athletic.

“No other president in history could have pulled off the historic feat that President Trump delivered for the American people and the world.

“Thanks to his bold vision and decisive leadership, the 2026 FIFA World Cup generated billions of dollars in revenue, created a massive economic boost across host cities, and delivered a safe, secure, and seamless experience for millions of fans and athletes from around the globe. It will undoubtedly go down as one of the greatest and most successful sporting events in history.”

Infantino is under no obligation to appear before the committee, but the request indicates that he will fall under higher scrutiny should the Democrats take office, especially before the 2031 Women's World Cup, which is scheduled to take place in the United States.

That's if he isn't forced to resign as the fallout from his scrapped plan to privatise some of the World Cup continues.