Are Africans welcome at the World Cup?

Photo: Glenn Research Center / Wikimedia Commons (PUBLIC DOMAIN)

This year’s World Cup, which begins on June 11 across the United States, Mexico, and Canada, features 10 African teams, more than ever before.

But despite African success on the soccer field, many fans from African countries do not feel welcome at the World Cup.

FIFA’s weak response to the US government’s immigration crackdown, which includes travel restrictions targeting dozens of African nations, means many African soccer fans and journalists are  unable or unwilling  to visit the US.

US President Donald Trump has a  history  of  disparaging Africans.

The Trump administration’s  immigration policies  have mirrored this prejudice: his administration imposed  full or partial bans  on travel to the US for citizens from 39 countries, including 26 in Africa.

Citizens from all African countries facing partial visa bans, as well as from another 16 countries across the continent, may have to pay a  visa bond  of up to $15,000,  returned  once US authorities confirm they have exited the country.

Trump has also suspended  the US refugee admissions program, which  resettled  more than 100,000 refugees including 34,000 Africans in  2024.

White Afrikaners from South Africa  are currently the only category of refugee eligible for resettlement in the US.

African immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers already present in the US, as well as Black Americans generally, have also suffered from the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

Federal security forces, including agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), have arbitrarily and sometimes violently detained people across the country, including  targeting Latino, Black, and other communities of color.

Somalis and other Africans were among the targets of the US government’s  campaign of terror and intimidation  against immigrants in Minnesota this past winter, which included  arrests of people with recognized refugee  status.

The Trump administration has also deported African and other asylum seekers and migrants to African states that are not their countries of origin – including  Cameroon,  Eswatini, South Sudan, and Equatorial Guinea – where they are at risk of harm or other rights violations, including arbitrary detention and forced repatriations.

In August 2025, a South African journalist, at a meeting in Kenya to discuss the World Cup,  urged  FIFA president Gianni Infantino “to make sure that Africa and all the other people of the world do not feel outcast, do not feel like they are being made second-class citizens in a world where equality should prevail.” Infantino responded, “Be positive…you will see there will be a great, great celebration of the greatest FIFA World Cup ever.” African journalists, however, from the countries targeted by Trump’s travel bans  face  the same visa restrictions as fans.

On June 5, the International Sports Press Association  wrote  to FIFA to raise concerns about “countless” and “unacceptable” cases of denied entry visas for reporters, including African journalists specifically.

FIFA also recently confirmed that Somali referee  Omar Abdulkadir Artan, one of  Africa’s top referee of 2025, will be “unable to train and officiate at the Fifa World Cup 2026” after he was denied entry to the US.

The global football governing body has so far done very little to tackle the impact on fans and workers of the US government’s problematic immigration policies.

The US government has said it will waive visa bonds for some ticketholders using FIFA PASS, an expedited visa appointment system for the World Cup ticket holders.

But participation in the program provides no way around other travel bans and visa restrictions.

Exceptions to the travel bans provided for World Cup athletes and coaches do not apply to fans or other workers.

Neither FIFA nor the US government have responded to calls for an “ ICE Truce,” which would protect immigrants in the US from abuses by eliciting a public guarantee from federal authorities to refrain from immigration enforcement at World Cup games and venues.

African music megastars Tyla and Rema are scheduled to perform at the World Cup’s opening ceremony in  Los Angeles.

But while African music and soccer are welcome at the tournament, many African fans and journalists, it would seem, are not.

Ahmar Maiga is the founder and executive director of Young Players Protection in Africa Vincent Sima Ole is a senior program and sport and human rights coordinator at Human Rights Watch