From price hikes to denied entries, a look at World Cup controversies : NPR

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Soccer’s World Cup begins tomorrow. The United States is a co-host, so is it being a good host? Miguel Delaney is covering events. He is chief football writer for The Independent. Good morning, sir.

MIGUEL DELANEY: Morning.

INSKEEP: And you join us from New York City. How welcoming has the United States been as teams arrive?

DELANEY: Well, I suppose with any World Cup, there’s always two elements to this. There’s the atmosphere on the ground, which is very welcoming, especially – I made a point of kind of walking around New York City yesterday to get a bit of a flavor for it. And then there’s, I suppose, the state, the structures, which has felt – I mean, look, for a Western journalist, I was fine coming in, obviously, but to a lot of participants in this World Cup – a referee, Omar Artan, the Iranian team, actually, given the context, but also the Senegalese and Uzbekistan teams – it has not been welcoming. And so far, we’ve seen issues with visas at entry that, to be honest, have not been seen at any previous World Cup.

And that is for a very specific reason that I think does touch on a lot swirling around this competition, both in terms of, I suppose, today (ph), where the World Cup is right now, issues – the debates around the U.S. and also FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s relationship with Donald Trump…

INSKEEP: Yeah.

DELANEY: …Which is traditionally – for every single World Cup, in order to host the competition, there are contractual guarantees or contractual provisions that certainly – and this is in FIFA’s literature – quote-unquote, “guarantees” have to be made on visa permits, on entry. And that’s because, as Infantino himself said in 2017, everyone has to be there for a World Cup to actually function. It is a global party.

INSKEEP: Wait a minute. You’ve raised a lot of issues here. First, you referred to people who have been kept out of or sent away from the United States. Are you telling me the United States actually had contracted to let everybody in?

DELANEY: Well, the – I mean, look, when you sign up for a World Cup initially, the agreements are all there or the provisions are all there in FIFA statutes. You have to – usually, every single host has to sign this. Now, of course, I don’t know specifically whether the U.S. has to do it, but it’s generally a condition of hosting a World Cup. And, like, as someone in football put to me yesterday, it seems evident that in this case, for the first time in history, FIFA couldn’t secure these guarantees. Or even if those guarantees existed, which we don’t know about, that FIFA have no…

INSKEEP: Yeah.

DELANEY: …Control over the tournament.

INSKEEP: Yeah. In any case, it’s not normal. Yeah.

DELANEY: Yeah, yeah. And it’s not to say that FIFA overrule a state’s laws. That’s not – although there are examples of that in the past, not least in Brazil, South Africa. It’s more so the relationship between the two because usually – I mean, look, there’s an eight-year relationship here from when the…

INSKEEP: Yeah.

DELANEY: …World Cup was first awarded in 2018. Usually, out of that, these situations are calm. Instead, it’s evident that FIFA came into this tournament not knowing any of this. I mean, the one with the referee, the referee would have been prevetted. It’s remarkable he got to a situation where he could actually arrive at the U.S., be questioned for hours and then turned away. How do FIFA have no knowledge of that? No – like, where’s the communication?

INSKEEP: Even though it would seem that Gianni Infantino, as you said, the head of FIFA, has a very close relationship with President Trump, which he seems to have cultivated over many years, what is that relationship like? And is everyone comfortable with it?

DELANEY: Well, certainly, it’s a very – publicly a very good relationship. I think the general descriptions are of cravenness, obsequiousness, and he goes out of his way to try and flatter Trump. And the argument from the FIFA side is that this is necessary because one Donald Trump decision can cause chaos for the tournament. Instead, it does seem that Infantino has overstepped sometimes because he’s so ensconced with Trump. Even some of the things he’s said, the events he’s appeared at – I think he’s been in the Oval Office more than any, quote-unquote, “state leader,” which is how basically some in FIFA see Infantino and how Infantino, I think, wants to position himself. But he’s been there more than anyone.

And yet, despite all of that, as someone – again, as someone with knowledge of a lot of this put to me, the Trump administration have basically not given FIFA help on anything from infrastructure to, obviously, this main issue of visas. And yeah, it’s just one of so many issues swirling around this World Cup.

INSKEEP: Miguel Delaney is chief football writer for The Independent and also author of “States Of Play: How Sportswashing Took Over Football.” Thanks so much.

DELANEY: Thank you.

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