Delays, distrust, dynamic prices - how 'welcoming' will World Cup be?

Fifa is promising the biggest and best World Cup ever in 2026, but will that really be the case?

Fifa president Gianni Infantino has repeatedly insisted that "the world will be welcome" during next summer's men's World Cup, which will be held mostly by the USA, with some matches in Canada and Mexico.

"We'll bring the world to the United States of America," the Swiss said earlier this year. "The world loves America, whatever some might say."

But the nearer the start of the tournament draws, the more scrutiny is being placed on whether the USA will be quite as welcoming as Infantino insists.

With political violence on the rise, state troops deployed to major cities by President Donald Trump, and a more hardline stance taken on immigration, the tournament's main host nation is in a state of division and disruption.

As ticket sales begin and fans make travel plans, BBC Sport explores some of the issues causing concern.

Ticket price hike generates criticism

Last week the first batch of tickets for next summer's matches went on sale, with more than 4.5 million fans entering a draw for a chance to buy them.

Immediately, Fifa's approach to pricing drew significant backlash.

Fifa has not formally revealed a full price list, but they are being listed online by fans who were successful in the draw after spending hours in digital queues last week.

General admission tickets are being split into four categories, with those for the first match in the USA costing between $560 (£417) and $2,235 (£1,662). At the last World Cup in Qatar, the opening match was priced between $55 (£41) and $618 (£460).

The cheapest ticket for the 2026 final costs $2,030 (£1,510), and the most expensive is $6,000 (£4,462). Hospitality tickets, meanwhile, are yet to go on sale but will almost certainly be priced significantly higher.

Some tickets for matches early in the tournament - in a few of the less prestigious locations - are available for $60 (£44), but stadium map images show they are a tiny proportion of available seats.

The Athletic also reports that Fifa will also implement 15% charges on both the buyer and seller of tickets resold via its official platform.

Fifa did not respond to questions put forward by the BBC.

"These prices are astonishing - $2,030 for the cheapest final ticket is unacceptable," said Thomas Concannon, who leads the Football Supporters Association's England Fans' Embassy.

"If fans are successful in obtaining a category four ticket from the first game to the last, that could set them back $3,180 (£2,363) at least. That is more than double what Qatar cost.

"Combined with travel and accommodation, this will be the most expensive World Cup for match-going fans we've ever seen by some distance."

Fifa is also adopting a 'dynamic' pricing model for the tournament, meaning ticket prices for matches deemed high demand could be raised significantly during later sales periods.

The system has the potential to benefit Americans while locking out foreign fans.

"Dynamic pricing has really been a thing here for more than a decade," said Scott Friedman, found of the Ticket Talk Network in the USA. "For Fifa, it's supply and demand - they are trying to maximise their revenue.

"The system gives an advantage to American citizens who can maybe buy a resale ticket for a game which has less demand at much less than face value 48 hours before a match.

"People can't really travel from overseas to do that. The system is not fair for the rest of the world and could definitely price out people from other countries."

The 82,500-capacity MetLife Stadium in Rutherford, New Jersey will host the final of the 2026 World Cup

Visa delays cause uncertainty

During his previous term in office, when the World Cup bid was accepted, Trump signed a letter insisting that "all eligible athletes, officials and fans from all countries around the world would be able to enter the United States without discrimination".

Some fans, including those from the UK and EU, will be able to travel to the World Cup without a visa. That is because 42 territories are in the USA's Visa Waiver Program, meanings fans will only need to apply via the Electronic System for Travel Authorisation, which is usually approved or rejected within 72 hours.

But citizens of most countries, especially those in Asia, Africa and South America - including plenty who have either already secured qualification for the World Cup or are likely do so - do have to apply for visas.

While Russia and Qatar implemented visa fast-track processes at the previous two editions of the World Cup, the USA has not done so.

Fans hoping to attend matches must apply and enter the same queue as other visitors to the US, and can face delays so long that they may be unable to be approved for a visa in time to attend the tournament.

Applications for US visas usually involve at least one face-to-face interview at an embassy, and the Trump administration has increased its officials' powers to investigate applicants' social media use and public political statements.

As things stand, average wait times for an initial tourist visa interview for some countries are well over a year.

Last week the State Department announced it will increase staffing levels at some embassies in order to try to process applications more quickly, but hasn't revealed which countries or how many staff.

"We have a long way to go before we're ready to welcome the world," said Travis Murphy, a former State Department diplomat and founder of Jetr Global Sports, which helps international athletes access US visas.

"The current administration has been outspoken in terms of limiting international travel, and putting restrictions into some processes to make it more difficult.

"The visa process in the USA has not been very clear or efficient for decades. The regulations really haven't changed that much - how strictly some of the rules are enforced is really what is [important] here.

"You also have this over-arching view that maybe people aren't welcome or are unsafe here. I don't think that's accurate, but I can see why international audiences would have that perception.

"I would hate to see our country put itself in a position where future events might be pulled away because of how we handle this."

The current wait time for a US visa interview, in which applicants have to convince an individual official that their visit should be permitted, is up to 15 months in Colombia

Violence puts scrutiny on security

There have been a series of political assassinations in the USA so far in 2025, and there were around 500 mass shootings across the country in 2024.

Forced deportations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers have also increased on the orders of Trump, who has deployed National Guard troops in Democrat-led cities, including Los Angeles, which will host eight matches.

ICE and National Guard deployments have drawn mass protests from distrustful communities in some cities, and Trump has threatened to force matches to be moved from cities he deems "unsafe".

"There is no question the divisions in the United States are considerable," says Daniel Byman, director of the Warfare, Irregular Threats, and Terrorism Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, an American think tank. "On different issues, depending on the day, the president or some of his key people are trying to push a more polarised agenda. There is a lot of anger.

"With the Trump administration, there are lot of 'we don't know' answers in terms of security, because they don't yet have much of a track record for big events.

"There has been a pretty steady dismantling of a lot of the government agencies - cuts at the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI. With that comes not only loss of people, but loss of institutional knowledge.

"There are lots of individuals who can be disruptive and dangerous. And the United States, of course, has ready access to firearms in a way that most countries do not."

Protests against ICE officers attempting to conduct forced deportations have become commonplace in Los Angeles this year