US President Donald Trump receives the FIFA Peace Prize from Fifa President Gianni Infantino during the draw for the 2026 FIFA Football World Cup set for the US, Canada and Mexico, at the Kennedy Centre, in Washington, DC in December. It is still not clear under what judgement Infantino awarded this honour to Trump. Growing up, I used to think that rich people’s lives were peaceful and better in every way; on a much bigger scale, I applied that same naive logic when comparing countries.
Blessed with a vivid imagination, there are few episodes where I would randomly match a person’s face to a particular country or brand based on their social status or simply my perception of them. No doubt, the faces of the rich would find themselves with the body of a first-world country, while the not-so-fortunate in life would — you guessed it — become third-world countries. Heck, even if I say so myself, such a colourful imagination is what Hollywood screenwriters are made of.
It is funny Hollywood should pop up there, since the whole reason I find myself recounting the foolish events of my youthful mind is because of the Americas — the not-short-of-scandals hosts of the2026 Fifa World Cup. North America will host the global showpiece between June 11 and July 19, with the US unsurprisingly taking the lion’s share of matches (78), while Canada and Mexico scrap for a total of 13 matches each. This will be a historical event indeed — 48 men’s national teams sharing the global stage for the first time ever to give us a total of 104 matches, which will culminate in the final in New Jersey on July 19.
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Anyway, back to my vivid imagination: at this stage, I am sure you can now make up your mind that the US, the ‘leaders of the free world’, no doubt fall under the ‘rich people category’ with endless peace and the most enviable life. Man-oh-man! Are they proving my imagination naive and, to some extent, mismatched as we build up to what is potentially the biggest sporting event of all time.
As far as hosting the upcoming World Cup is concerned, there is nothing peaceful or desirable about being in the shoes of Americans right now. If it is not ‘Typhoon Trump’ wrecking relations with other countries by imposing trade tariffs, suspending Fifa member countries’ visa applications, and barring them from the US for World Cup-related events such as the tournament draw, it is gangs and cartels threatening safety and security in Mexico. The scandals are countless, and consequently, this week the biggest World Cup-related headline is Germany and former Fifa president Sepp Blatter calling for a boycott of the 2026 tournament.
About 15 of the 2026 World Cup-qualified countries are on the list of 75 nations for which the US has announced an indefinite pause on immigrant visa processing. Current reports suggest Category 1 seats for the final at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium are being quoted as high as R110 000 to R117 000 due to “dynamic pricing”.
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