By Ted Hesson and Kristina Cooke
WASHINGTON, March 20 (Reuters) – Intelligence briefings reviewed by Reuters have warned of the potential for extremists and criminals to target the World Cup at a time when hundreds of millions of dollars of approved security funds have been delayed, causing U.S. preparations to fall behind.
The previously unreported briefings from U.S. federal and state officials and FIFA, the international federation overseeing the World Cup, outlined the risk of extremist attacks, including attacks on transportation infrastructure and civil unrest related to President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
The soccer World Cup, one of the globe’s biggest sporting events, will be held in June and July this year across three countries – the United States, Canada and Mexico.
While security at such events is always intense, U.S. law enforcement officials have been on especially heightened alert since the start of the war on Iran and have raised concerns over retaliatory threats.
Officials working to prepare for the World Cup in the United States have increasingly sounded alarms in recent weeks over a stalled $625 million in federal security grants for the event that were part of a Republican-backed spending bill passed in July 2025.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, tasked with distributing the money, said in November that it was expecting to allocate the funds no later than January 30.
Following inquiries by Reuters this month after officials and organizers complained that they had still received nothing, FEMA announced on Wednesday that it had awarded the grants, saying the money would “bolster security preparations.”
With the first matches kicking off in Mexico on June 11 and then the U.S. and Canada the next day, states and cities hosting the events are deep into planning, including how to safeguard from possible attacks. The delayed funding and threat warnings have compounded an already complex process, multiple officials involved told Reuters.
The grant money distribution process normally takes months, and efforts to buy technology and equipment can take even longer, according to Mike Sena, president of the National Fusion Center Association, which represents a network of 80 information centers across the U.S. that facilitate federal, state and local intelligence sharing.
“It will be extremely tight,” he said.
A December 2025 intelligence report from New Jersey looking at potential threats to matches in the state – which will include the final – flagged recent domestic attacks, disrupted terror plots and a proliferation of extremist propaganda. The report also noted the possibility of spontaneous gatherings related to tensions between countries.
Another intelligence report, dated September 2025, described an online post appearing to encourage attacks on railroad infrastructure during the World Cup that said there were “plenty of opportunities for us to knock it off the tracks” and highlighted matches on the West Coast of the U.S. and Canada. The documents were obtained through open records requests by the transparency nonprofit Property of the People.
DELAYED FUNDING, WORRIES ABOUT ICE
Democrats have blamed outgoing U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for delaying the release of the money. Under Noem’s leadership, DHS also withheld hundreds of millions of dollars in homeland security funds last year from a dozen Democratic-led states and Washington, D.C., while pressing them to increase immigration enforcement.
In response to a request for comment, White House spokesman Davis Ingle faulted Democrats for the delayed funding, citing disagreements over immigration enforcement tactics.
“The president is focused on making this the greatest World Cup ever while ensuring it is the safest and most secure in history,” Ingle said in a statement. “The Democrats need to stop playing games.”
Trump’s immigration crackdown has already cast a pall over the event and raised concerns about the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. Since Trump took office in January 2025, masked immigration agents have rounded up suspected immigration offenders in U.S. cities and detained some tourists at airports.
That has coincided with a Trump-era dropoff in overall international visitors, according to U.S. Commerce Department data. Early signs have however indicated still strong appetite for flight bookings and ticket sales for the tournament.
In a FIFA weekly intelligence briefing dated January 28, analysts warned that anti-ICE activism in U.S. cities in response to immigration enforcement could lower the barriers “to hostile actions by lone actors or extremist elements.”
Trump has also placed full or partial travel bans on nationals of more than three dozen countries, including Iran, which is in talks with FIFA to move its matches to Mexico due to its current conflict with the United States. Three other countries whose fans face Trump travel bans – Haiti, Ivory Coast and Senegal – have also qualified for the tournament.
SECURITY CONCERNS EXTEND TO FAN EVENTS
Several World Cup and state officials have said “FIFA Fan Festival” events are a particular concern. The events allow large numbers of people to watch matches together on open-air screens.
A Fan Festival event that had been planned in Liberty State Park in Jersey City for the duration of the tournament was canceled unexpectedly last month and replaced with smaller gatherings.
New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill said at the time that many smaller events would allow more people in the area to enjoy the experience. Security concerns also factored in the decision, a person familiar with the planning said.
U.S. Representative Nellie Pou, a Democrat representing a district in New Jersey that includes MetLife Stadium, one of the sites where games will be played, said that each of the World Cup’s 104 matches would be equivalent to a Super Bowl.
“Local government, local law enforcement, will certainly have their hands full,” Pou said. “They need every single dollar that they are eligible to receive, and they need it now.”
(Reporting by Ted Hesson in Washington and Kristina Cooke in San Francisco; Editing by Craig Timberg and Rosalba O’Brien)
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