With the full $625 million in federal security funding finally released for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, U.S. officials are now confronting a more complex challenge: rebuilding the planning machinery for one of the world’s largest sporting events at a moment of heightened geopolitical tension and institutional strain.
At a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Wednesday, Christopher Tomney, director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Homeland Security Situational Awareness, told lawmakers that the prolonged shutdown at DHS has significantly slowed preparations for the tournament, which will be staged across the United States, Canada, and Mexico in June and July.
“A lot of the planning efforts underway for the World Cup have been slowed down, have been delayed due to the lapse in appropriations, individuals being furloughed,” Tomney said.
While the release of the funds resolves an earlier bottleneck that had alarmed security planners, the deeper concern now lies in lost time, depleted personnel, and a rapidly changing global threat environment.
Tomney confirmed that the Federal Emergency Management Agency has now disbursed the entire $625 million earmarked for tournament security, saying, “All the funding has been released now. FEMA GO is up and operational.”
That assurance, however, comes against the backdrop of a DHS shutdown that has now stretched beyond two months, the result of a congressional impasse over funding legislation tied to President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Although Trump signed an order earlier this month authorizing pay for DHS employees, officials say the disruption has already taken a toll on operational readiness.
The damage is particularly acute in the loss of institutional expertise. Tomney pointed to the departure of hundreds of Transportation Security Administration officers, warning that such specialized experience cannot be replaced quickly.
“We just can’t replace that expertise overnight. It has hindered our coordination with state and locals,” he said.
For a tournament that will span multiple countries, dozens of cities, and millions of spectators, such coordination is not a procedural detail but the backbone of the event’s security architecture. The World Cup’s footprint extends far beyond stadium perimeters to airports, hotels, transit corridors, fan zones, cyber infrastructure, and emergency response networks.
What has added a new layer of urgency to those concerns is the recent escalation in the Middle East, particularly the ongoing war involving the United States and Iran. Security analysts say the conflict has sharpened fears that the World Cup, because of its symbolic value and global visibility, could become a target for extremist actors, retaliatory threats, cyberattacks, or politically motivated disruptions.
Those fears are not abstract. Intelligence briefings reviewed by Reuters last month had already warned that extremists and criminal groups may seek to exploit the tournament. The outbreak of war has only intensified scrutiny around host-city preparedness, border screening, diplomatic coordination, and contingency planning for teams from politically sensitive regions.
A central focus of that concern is Iran, whose national team has already qualified for the tournament and is scheduled to play group-stage matches in the United States.
The war had cast fresh doubt over whether Iran would participate at all, especially after the United States and Israel launched airstrikes on Iranian territory. Questions have swirled over diplomatic access, player safety, visa processing, and the optics of an Iranian team competing on American soil while the two countries remain in active conflict.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino moved on Wednesday to calm those concerns, insisting that Iran’s place at the tournament remains secure.
Speaking at CNBC’s Invest in America Forum, Infantino said Iran will participate in the World Cup “for sure,” even as the war continues.
“The Iranian team is coming for sure, yes,” Infantino said. “We hope that by then, of course, the situation will be a peaceful situation. As I said, that would definitely help. But Iran has to come. Of course, they represent their people. They have qualified. The players want to play.”
His remarks are notable not only because they offer clarity on Iran’s participation, but also because they underline the collision between sport and geopolitics that now shadows the tournament.
Infantino framed football as a bridge rather than a casualty of international conflict, arguing that the World Cup must remain open to qualified nations irrespective of diplomatic tensions. However, his comments implicitly acknowledge the scale of the challenge facing organizers: guaranteeing the security of teams, officials, and fans in a climate shaped by war, domestic political dysfunction, and an elevated global threat level.
This convergence of risks is what now defines the run-up to the 2026 World Cup. The major shortfalls consist of the operational disruption caused by the DHS funding lapse, which has slowed interagency planning and weakened coordination with state and local law enforcement, and an international crisis that could directly affect participating teams, travel logistics, diplomatic arrangements, and threat assessments.
For U.S. authorities, the issue is no longer merely about whether the money has been released. It is about whether the country can restore enough planning capacity in time to secure what is expected to be the biggest World Cup in history.
The tournament’s expansion to 48 teams already made it a logistical and security challenge unlike any previous edition. The added burden of managing fallout from the U.S.-Iran war has turned that challenge into a test of institutional resilience and diplomatic dexterity.
