This year’s World Cup was pitched as a showcase of North America’s collective ambition, a chance for the U.S., Mexico and Canada to pull off a first-of-its-kind event across two borders showcasing their longstanding trade and cultural ties.
Instead, this edition of the world’s most popular sporting event has highlighted, if unintentionally, the current tensions between the host countries at one of the most turbulent moments in their relationship.
The lead-up to the tournament was punctuated by squabbles over trade, security and harsh immigration policies in the U.S. In the days before kickoff, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum accused the U.S. of meddling in her country’s internal affairs. President Trump revived his call to make Canada the 51st state and cast doubt on the future of the free-trade deal between the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
Past World Cups often had a simple organizing narrative—South Africa’s emergence as a global destination, Brazil’s passion for soccer, Qatar’s ambition. When soccer officials from the U.S., Mexico and Canada launched their joint bid for the World Cup from a Manhattan skyscraper in 2017, they sought to emphasize the comity among them. The word “unity” is splashed in all-caps on the 530-page document’s first page and appears hundreds of times throughout it.
“We call ourselves the United Bid because we are truly approaching this challenge together—UNITED, AS ONE,” the proposal said.
Instead, each host has been telling a different story. The U.S. has emphasized security. Mexico has showcased a culture of hospitality. Canada has focused on its arrival as a soccer nation.
Each country has its own mascot, and the branding in host cities is focused little, if at all, on North America. Even different host cities have their own marketing campaigns. Signs in western Mexico touted Guadalajara as “the most Mexican host city.”
When the U.S. flag was paraded onto the pitch during the World Cup opening ceremony in Mexico City last week, jeers rained down from the crowd. The boos for the stars-and-stripes were even louder the following day, at the opening game in Canada.
The result is a tournament that has often felt like three parallel World Cups rather than one shared event. A spirit of unity is hard to see now, said John Kristick, who served as the executive director of the three countries’ joint bid for the World Cup, which was expanded to 48 teams.
“I think it was left in the bid book,” he said.
At the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan—the first hosted by more than one country—the leaders of both nations attended the opening match in Seoul. This time, none of the heads of government of the host countries attended their country’s first game. Leaders of the U.S., Canada and Mexico used to meet regularly to discuss trade and cooperation at so-called three amigos summits, but the current trio has met only once in person, at the World Cup draw in Washington last year where Trump was the center of the show.
Off-field tensions around major sporting events tend to melt away once the games begin, said Lee Igel, a professor at New York University’s Tisch Institute for Global Sport. “Once kickoff happens, everything changes,” he said.
But even with the tournament now under way, the friction is visible on the field and in the stands. The Trump administration’s travel ban has made it difficult for fans of several competing nations, such as Senegal, Ivory Coast, Haiti and Iran, to follow their teams to the U.S.
Multiple soccer federations, including Iraq and South Africa, complained that their players and staff faced long delays waiting for visas or entry to the U.S. Iran had to move its training camp to the Mexican border city of Tijuana, even though the team plays all three of its group stage games in the U.S.
Omar Abdulkadir Artan, who was set to become Somalia’s first World Cup referee, was denied entry to the U.S. Immigration authorities alleged that he had links to suspected terrorists.
The incident was an insult to African fans, some of whom have faced their own difficulty getting visas to watch their teams’ games in the U.S.
“He was referee of the year, and you don’t allow him into your country?” said Caleb Moses, who had traveled from South Africa to Mexico, referring to the award Artan won for Africa’s best referee in 2025. Moses and his family were also going to South Africa’s second game, in Atlanta, but said they were less excited to go to the U.S.
“Mexico is great,” Moses said outside the tournament’s opening game in Mexico City. “We have no issues here.”
Davis Ingle, a White House spokesman, said Trump was focused on making the World Cup “not only an incredible experience for all fans and visitors, but also the safest and most secure in history.”
Meanwhile, Canada denied entry to a Ghanaian player who has been accused of rape in the U.K. and will miss his team’s opening match on Wednesday. The country’s immigration ministry said in a statement that under Canadian law, foreign nationals can be deemed inadmissible without a foreign conviction.
“Canada has been consistent that hosting major sporting events does not change Canada’s immigration laws,” it said.
Canadian and Mexican officials have disputed that the geopolitical tensions have complicated the organization of the tournament, in which both Canada and Mexico will host 13 games each while the U.S. will host 78, including the final.
“The amount of effort going on behind the scenes to ensure that the World Cup is successful and safe is exceptional,” Mark Wiseman, Canada’s ambassador to the U.S., told a business audience in Toronto last week, adding that he is in a text chain with U.S. officials organizing the tournament.
Gabriela Cuevas, Mexico’s representative to the World Cup, said that she didn’t have any issues with her regional counterparts. Each host “has its own agreements, policies and regulations,” she said.
Write to Amanda Coletta at [email protected] and Ian Lovett at [email protected]