World Cup
Security concerns grow around World Cup in the US after stalled funding
Intelligence briefings reviewed by Reuters have warned of the potential for extremists and criminals to target the World Cup at a time when hundreds of millions of dollars of approved security funds have been delayed, causing U.S. preparations to fall behind.
The previously unreported briefings from U.S. federal and state officials and FIFA, the international federation overseeing the World Cup, outlined the risk of extremist attacks, including attacks on transportation infrastructure and civil unrest related to President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
The soccer World Cup, one of the globe’s biggest sporting events, will be held in June and July this year across three countries – the United States, Canada and Mexico.
While security at such events is always intense, U.S. law enforcement officials have been on especially heightened alert since the start of the war on Iran and have raised concerns over retaliatory threats.
Officials working to prepare for the World Cup in the United States have increasingly sounded alarms in recent weeks over a stalled $625 million in federal security grants for the event that were part of a Republican-backed spending bill passed in July 2025.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, tasked with distributing the money, said in November that it was expecting to allocate the funds no later than January 30.
Following inquiries by Reuters this month after officials and organizers complained that they had still received nothing, FEMA announced on Wednesday that it had awarded the grants, saying the money would “bolster security preparations.”
With the first matches kicking off in Mexico on June 11 and then the U.S. and Canada the next day, states and cities hosting the events are deep into planning, including how to safeguard from possible attacks. The delayed funding and threat warnings have compounded an already complex process, multiple officials involved told Reuters.
The grant money distribution process normally takes months, and efforts to buy technology and equipment can take even longer, according to Mike Sena, president of the National Fusion Center Association, which represents a network of 80 information centers across the U.S. that facilitate federal, state and local intelligence sharing.
“It will be extremely tight,” he said.
A December 2025 intelligence report from New Jersey looking at potential threats to matches in the state – which will include the final – flagged recent domestic attacks, disrupted terror plots and a proliferation of extremist propaganda. The report also noted the possibility of spontaneous gatherings related to tensions between countries.
Another intelligence report, dated September 2025, described an online post appearing to encourage attacks on railroad infrastructure during the World Cup that said there were “plenty of opportunities for us to knock it off the tracks” and highlighted matches on the West Coast of the U.S. and Canada. The documents were obtained through open records requests by the transparency nonprofit Property of the People.
DELAYED FUNDING, WORRIES ABOUT ICE
Democrats have blamed outgoing U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for delaying the release of the money. Under Noem’s leadership, DHS also withheld, opens new tab hundreds of millions of dollars in homeland security funds last year from a dozen Democratic-led states and Washington, D.C., while pressing them to increase immigration enforcement.
In response to a request for comment, White House spokesman Davis Ingle faulted Democrats for the delayed funding, citing disagreements over immigration enforcement tactics.
“The president is focused on making this the greatest World Cup ever while ensuring it is the safest and most secure in history,” Ingle said in a statement. “The Democrats need to stop playing games.”
Trump’s immigration crackdown has already cast a pall over the event and raised concerns about the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. Since Trump took office in January 2025, masked immigration agents have rounded up suspected immigration offenders in U.S. cities and detained some tourists at airports.
That has coincided with a Trump-era dropoff in overall international visitors, according to U.S. Commerce Department data. Early signs have however indicated still strong appetite for flight bookings and ticket sales for the tournament.
In a FIFA weekly intelligence briefing dated January 28, analysts warned that anti-ICE activism in U.S. cities in response to immigration enforcement could lower the barriers “to hostile actions by lone actors or extremist elements.”
Trump has also placed full or partial travel bans on nationals of more than three dozen countries, including Iran, which is in talks with FIFA to move its matches to Mexico due to its current conflict with the United States. Three other countries whose fans face Trump travel bans – Haiti, Ivory Coast and Senegal – have also qualified for the tournament.
SECURITY CONCERNS EXTEND TO FAN EVENTS
Several World Cup and state officials have said “FIFA Fan Festival” events are a particular concern. The events allow large numbers of people to watch matches together on open-air screens.
A Fan Festival event that had been planned in Liberty State Park in Jersey City for the duration of the tournament was canceled unexpectedly last month and replaced with smaller gatherings.
New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill said at the time that many smaller events would allow more people in the area to enjoy the experience. Security concerns also factored in the decision, a person familiar with the planning said.
U.S. Representative Nellie Pou, a Democrat representing a district in New Jersey that includes MetLife Stadium, one of the sites where games will be played, said that each of the World Cup’s 104 matches would be equivalent to a Super Bowl.
“Local government, local law enforcement, will certainly have their hands full,” Pou said. “They need every single dollar that they are eligible to receive, and they need it now.”
-Reuters
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Argentina’s dramatic 3-2 victory over Egypt in their FIFA World Cup 2026 Round of 16 encounter on Tuesday was more than just a thrilling comeback. It was a match packed with historic milestones, record-breaking achievements and statistical landmarks.
The defending champions maintained their perfect record against Egypt, winning all three meetings between the nations, while extending their unbeaten run at the FIFA World Cup to 11 matches (nine wins and two draws), the longest such streak in Argentine World Cup history.
The victory also reinforced Argentina’s dominance against African opposition, marking a ninth consecutive World Cup triumph over teams from the continent.
It was equally significant in the knockout rounds, where La Albiceleste have now won nine of their last 11 matches.
One of the most memorable moments came from Enzo Fernández, whose dramatic winner entered football folklore as the 3,000th goal scored in FIFA World Cup history.
Earlier, Argentina remarkably had the 1,000th goal in World Cup history when they beat Nigeria 2-1 in Boston in 1994.
For much of theTuesday contest with Egypt, Argentina looked destined for elimination. Egypt’s spirited first-half display handed the South Americans an unfamiliar challenge. It was the first time Argentina had trailed in a World Cup match since their shock 2-1 defeat to Saudi Arabia in the opening game of Qatar 2022.
Even more remarkably, it was the first time Argentina had conceded a first-half goal at the World Cup since their memorable Round of 16 clash with France in Russia 2018. They had gone 11 consecutive World Cup matches without conceding before the interval.
The comeback itself was historic. Never before had Argentina recovered from a half-time deficit to win a World Cup match. Their closest previous example came in the 1990 semi-final against Italy, when they trailed 1-0 at the break before drawing 1-1 and advancing on penalties.
As expected, Lionel Messi once again found himself at the centre of history. The Argentine captain made his 31st World Cup appearance, extending his record as the most-capped player in tournament history. Cristiano Ronaldo follows on 27 appearances, while Germany’s Lothar Matthäus remains third with 25.
Messi also stretched another extraordinary record by scoring in nine successive World Cup matches, a feat unmatched in the competition’s history. The goal was also his sixth consecutive strike in a World Cup knockout-round match, a run dating back to Qatar 2022.
The Argentine superstar further cemented his place atop the all-time World Cup scoring charts with 21 goals. France’s Kylian Mbappé sits second on 19, while Germany’s Miroslav Klose is third with 16.
Argentina’s attacking consistency was also underlined as they scored at least twice in an 11th consecutive World Cup match, equalling a record previously held by Uruguay between 1930 and 1954.
For Egypt, despite the heartbreak of surrendering a two-goal lead, there were personal milestones to celebrate. Defender Yasser Ibrahim became the oldest Egyptian player to score in a World Cup knockout match at 33 years and 147 days, while veteran winger Trézéguet marked his 100th international appearance for the Pharaohs.
Yet on a night when Egypt came agonisingly close to producing one of the greatest upsets in World Cup history, Argentina’s resilience, Messi’s enduring brilliance and Fernández’s landmark goal ensured that the record books would once again belong to La Albiceleste.
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- Thursday’s quarter-final will be Morocco coach Ouahbi’s 11th game since his March appointment
- Morocco are unbeaten under Ouahbi with six wins and four draws in 10 games
- Ouahbi coached Morocco to the Under-20 World Cup title in Chile last October
Morocco coach Mohamed Ouahbi is already a World Cup-winner, but his success was at junior level, and he is treading new ground in the senior ranks as his side prepare to take on France in Thursday’s quarter-final.
It has been a remarkable ascent for the 49-year-old, born in Belgium to Moroccan parents and another example of the wealth of talent the North African can draw on from the diaspora.
Ouahbi was coach of the Morocco side that won last October’s Under-20 World Cup in Chile, ironically eliminating France at the semi-final stage.
The success made him a potential candidate to replace Walid Regragui when the Morocco coach quit after the Africa Cup of Nations in January, but the 49-year-old Ouahbi was expected to be down the pecking order.
Counting against him was a lack of experience as a senior head coach, but he got the job and has since proven wrong those who doubted he could make the transition from the juniors.
Ouahbi hails from Schaerbeek, the industrial suburb northeast of Brussels, and at 21 began as the under-nines coach at Anderlecht. He rose through the ranks to eventually become assistant to former Albanian international Besnik Hasi in 2016
But it proved a short tenure, and when Hasi was fired, Ouahbi returned to the youth ranks, working with talent at Anderlecht like current Belgium players Jeremy Doku and Youri Tielemans plus Bilal El Khannouss, who features in Morocco’s midfield.
“I have to say that he was not only a good youth coach but also a man of strong values and principles,” Jean Kindermans, who was in charge of Anderlecht’s youth development for years, told Belgian media.
Ouahbi left the club in 2021 after 17 years. “Anderlecht has had many great players trained under Mo, who went on to enjoy brilliant careers abroad,” Anderlecht wrote in a tribute.
He joined Al Fateh in Saudi Arabia, where he served as assistant coach to former Anderlecht colleague Yannick Ferrera before, four years ago, joining the Morocco federation and taking charge of their junior ranks.
“He is an incredibly good motivator,” Kindermans added.
“I think that is one of his strengths today, dealing with all those superstars, something he never was as a player himself. To command their respect, there has to be something like motivation, and that is something he is capable of.”
Thursday’s quarter-final will be Ouahbi’s 11th game in charge since his March appointment. Morocco have won six and drawn four of the previous 10 in an unbeaten run that has seen him feted for tactical changes that have improved the side.
“He sticks to his own style of play and isn’t dictated to by the opposition. When Morocco play now, we have our own identity,” says the country’s former international Youssouf Hadji, one of the team assistants.
–Reuters
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BY KUNLE SOLAJA, NEW YORK
As Morocco proudly fly Africa’s flag as the continent’s sole remaining representative at the FIFA World Cup 2026, a Reuters report has revealed that the Atlas Lions’ remarkable rise in global football has been powered by an unlikely ally — the North African kingdom’s vast phosphate wealth.
Morocco, who became the first African nation to reach a World Cup semi-final at Qatar 2022 and are now seeking to go even further in North America, have benefited from substantial investments channelled into football development by OCP Group, the world’s largest producer and exporter of phosphate fertilisers.
According to Reuters, OCP has become a key stakeholder in Morocco’s football revolution through a National Football Training Fund launched in 2024 in partnership with the Royal Moroccan Football Federation and private investors.
The initiative forms part of a broader national strategy that has transformed Morocco into one of the leading football powers on the African continent.
“We have this commitment to the development of the country,” Hicham El Habti, president of the OCP-funded University of Mohammed VI Polytechnic and a member of OCP’s strategic committee for innovation and learning, told Reuters.
El Habti explained that OCP’s involvement follows a royal directive encouraging state-owned institutions to contribute to national development goals.
“There’s a huge investment from OCP in the training fields. There is a partnership with FIFA,” he said, according to Reuters.
While OCP’s entry into football development began only two years ago, Morocco’s football transformation has deeper roots.
Reuters recalled that in 2009, King Mohammed VI directed major investments into football infrastructure across the country. The programme included the construction of modern pitches, youth academies, stadium upgrades and the recruitment of professional coaches to nurture future generations of talent.
OCP’s intervention has since accelerated those efforts by funding football academies and providing modern infrastructure, technical expertise and improved facility management.
The impact has been visible on the pitch.
Morocco’s achievements over the past four years have elevated the country into football’s elite ranks. After their historic fourth-place finish at Qatar 2022, the Atlas Lions have continued to challenge the traditional powers of the game, earning widespread respect for their organisation, technical quality and competitive spirit.
Their latest World Cup campaign has reinforced that reputation, with Morocco standing as Africa’s last hope in a tournament where several of the continent’s representatives made early exits.
Ironically, the financial foundation of this football success story lies beneath Morocco’s soil.
Phosphate, an essential ingredient in global agriculture, remains one of the world’s most strategic natural resources. Unlike nitrogen fertilisers, which can be manufactured using natural gas, phosphate is a finite resource that cannot be artificially created.
According to Reuters, global fertiliser market analyst Josh Linville of StoneX described Morocco as “the bright spot in an otherwise dismal phosphate marketplace.”
Linville noted that Morocco enjoys advantages over major competitors, many of whom face export restrictions, geopolitical uncertainties or production challenges.
The country’s strategic importance has grown even further in recent years. Reuters reported that the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump recently eased some restrictions on Moroccan phosphate imports to help address global supply shortages and rising prices linked to tensions in the Middle East.
For many Moroccans, however, the value of phosphate wealth is measured not only in export revenues but also in the joy generated by football success.
Reflecting on the national mood, El Habti told Reuters that the current World Cup campaign has revived memories of the euphoria that swept the country during Qatar 2022.
“You will see every face smiling,” he said. “It reminds us of 2022. Morocco was a very happy country for two months after the end of the World Cup. I’m feeling the same energy, the same vibes now.”
With Africa’s hopes resting squarely on Moroccan shoulders, the Atlas Lions are proving that visionary planning, sustained investment and the intelligent use of natural resources can help transform footballing dreams into reality.
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