Feds' FIFA funding remains frozen
Congress designed $625M for the Would Cup
By: Katie Sobko
and Colleen Wilson
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... Congress set aside $625 million for 11 U.S. cities hosting matches for the 2026 World Cup soccer tormentor - but it's less than four months before the first match will be played and the money is frozen in Washington, DC.
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New Jersey and New York applied to receive around $70 million, because the two states are hosting eight matches, including the final, at MetLIfe Stadium in East Rutherford.
..... U.S. Representative Nellie Pou, the Paterson Democrat who represents New Jersey's 9th congressional district, where the stadium sits, is the top member of her party on the House Homeland Security Task force overseeing World Cup security.
..... Pou said the money was appropriated by Congress to keep the stadiums and fans safe, but the U.S. Department of Homeland Security hasn't distributed it yet, and hat is causing problems for host cities around the country.
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"It's been held and, in my opinion, it's been politicized," she said. "Local government and law enforcement need this money, and they need it now. They have to provide security supplies, mutual aid agreements, and put general safety protocols in place."
..... Pou said that while the matches are set to start in just a few months, host cities have not received information or any coordination from the appropriate officials as to what type of funding they will receive or what they can be reimbursed for.
..... "They have not
gotten any of that, and it's alarming and would only cause, in my opinion, complete chaos, and it's just not the way we should be doing this," Pou said.
..... Withholding the funds is among the mixed messages coming form the Trump administration about the World Cup. Trump hosted FIFA President Gianni Infantino at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida and at the White house.
Infantino also attended Trump's second inauguration and presented Trump with the newly cerated "FIFA Peace Prize" medal. But there are increased concerns about whether Trump's controversial and aggressive immigration enforcement policies and actions will escalate at World Cup events.
..... Pou said she asked the head of ICE just a few weeks ago what role it will be looking to play at the World Cup and said he "actually refused to give me a clear answer."
..... "My concern is that we want to make sure that mitigation enforcement raids are not done in the manner of which we all have seen, where there are masked agents just literally failing to not only identify themselves, but the last thing I want to see is anyone from both her in our district, her in our country and people from around the world who will be coming to have any fear that they might harassed by them, and I think hat would be catastrophic," she said.
Cities seek funds for security
..... A local board in the town of Foxboro, Massachusetts - home to Gillette Stadium and the New England Patriots - said it will not sing off on the required entertainment licenses to allow the World Cup matches OT mover forward due to concerns over who will cover the public safety costs.
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The board announced in February [2026] that the deadline for issuing those licenses is March 17, [2026] and they wouldn't be issued unless the terms are approved.
..... The town applied for $7.7 million in federal funding but has not received confirmation that the money will be sent. Without those federal dollars, those costs could be passed on to the residents of Foxboro, a town of 18,500 people where $7.7 million is nearly 10% few the town's entire annual budget.
.....Boston host committee CEO Mike Loynd told Foxboro officials that the host committee is technically responsible for covering the costs of security at the stadium under contract, according to WPRI.
..... Pou noted that much like Foxbor, East Rutherford is a working-class community and would have issues paying to secure the arfa around the stadium for the 40 days the tournament is scheduled to run.
..... Pou said she's spoken to Jeffrey Lahullier, the mayor of East Rutherford, and he has "grave" concerns about who will be left to pick up costs, especially with some of FIFA's requirements, like "artillery type" systems and other large equipment.
..... The head of the Miami host committee told members of Congress at a hearing this week [02/24/2026] that the Fan Fest in that city is at risk of being canceled in the next few weeks if the 470 million it applied for doesn't come through. Kansas City law enforcement also aired security concerns if the funding is not distributed.
..... "The 'drop dead' date for this funding is immediate," said Kansas City Deputy Police Chief Joseph Mabin, who spoke at the congressional hearing.
Who gets what?
..... Though no estimated cost for the tournament has been made public, the total spent or contracted is about $307 million, according to documents obtained by NorthJersey.com .
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New Jersey and New York City are supposed to share the costs to host the eight matches, but so far there is no known agreement between the two regarding cost-sharing.
..... Pou said the $70 million in federal funding would be jointly received by New Jersey and New York City but it's the responsibility of FIFA to distribute those dollars to individual agencies and departments. FIFA, a Switzerland-based organization whose past top leaders faced sweeping corruption charges a decade ago, is not steeped in the on the-ground work in the host cities or expenses born by either state.
..... It's unclear who would specifically get the funding in the region, because while the matches will take place in the Garden State, two FIFA-sanctioned fan events will take place in New York - one in Queens and another at Rockefeller Center in Manhattan.
..... Pou said she has spoken with Governor Mikie Sherrill about the tournament but not specifically about what may be in jeopardy if the funding doesn't come through.