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Ex-FIFA president Sepp Blatter warns soccer fans against traveling to US for 2026 World Cup under Trump

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Ex-FIFA president Sepp Blatter warns soccer fans against traveling to US for 2026 World Cup under Trump

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Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter says soccer fans should avoid traveling to the United States for the 2026 World Cup this summer.

Blatter’s reasoning? His belief that President Donald Trump’s international aggression and immigration crackdown across the country makes it dangerous for fans traveling overseas.

Blatter cited Mark Pieth, an anti-corruption expert and law professor who oversaw the Independent Governance Committee during FIFA’s reform from 2013-16. Pieth spoke with Swiss outlet Der Bund, where he told soccer fans to, “Stay away from the USA!”

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FIFA President Sepp Blatter gestures during a press conference at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland on March 30, 2012. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

“For the fans, there’s only one piece of advice: stay away from the USA!” I think Mark Pieth is right to question this World Cup,” Blatter, 89, tweeted on Monday.

Pieth added in his interview: “You’ll see it better on TV anyway. And upon arrival, fans should expect that if they don’t please the officials, they’ll be put straight on the next flight home. If they’re lucky.”

The United States is set to co-host this year’s World Cup, as Mexico and Canada will be the site for games in the tournament that spans from June 11-July 19. However, after the Round of 16, all remaining matches will be held in the U.S.

Trump’s stance toward Greenland has led to a call to boycott the World Cup this summer by German soccer federation executive Oke Göttlich.

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“I really wonder when the time will be to think and talk about this concretely,” Göttlich told Hamburger Morgenpost newspaper about a potential boycott. “For me, that time has definitely come.”

Trump said recently that a “framework of a future deal” with NATO involving Greenland and the Arctic region has been discussed, which could ease tension in that regard.

From left; FIFA President Gianni Infantino takes a selfie with President Donald Trump, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney during the draw for the 2026 soccer World Cup at the Kennedy Center in Washington, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (Chris Carlson/AP Photo)

“Based upon a very productive meeting that I have had with the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, we have formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

There is also the criticism of ICE agents in U.S. cities, specifically Minneapolis, Minnesota, following the deaths of two U.S. citizens as immigration crackdowns continue.

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Pieth discussed that factor as well in his interview.

“The country itself is in a state of tremendous turmoil,” he said. “What we’re witnessing domestically — the marginalization of political opponents, the abuses by immigration authorities, and so on — doesn’t exactly entice a fan to travel there.

Pieth likened the States’ “security situation” to Mexico, where drug cartels threaten violence ahead of matches in Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey. Pieth believes the U.S. has become “increasingly authoritarian.”

U.S. President Donald Trump receives the FIFA Peace Prize from Gianni Infantino, President of FIFA, during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Official Draw at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Dec. 5, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Emilee Chinn/FIFA via Getty Images)

It’s worth noting Blatter was forced out of his post as FIFA president in 2015 following one of the biggest corruption scandals in the sport involving wire fraud, racketeering and money laundering.

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Gianni Infantino took over Blatter’s role, and he has had a strong friendship with Trump.

The State Department also told Fox News Digital exclusively that it will launch the FIFA Priority Appointment Schedule System, or FIFA PASS, which will give World Cupp ticket holders the opportunity to access prioritized visa appointments before the tournament begins on June 11.

Prospective visa holders must be able to show that they qualify to obtain a visa and plan to follow the laws in the United States as well as leave the country once the tournament is over on July 19.

Trump spoke about the FIFA Pass in November, saying the Departments of State and Homeland Security had been working “tirelessly” to “ensure that soccer fans from all around the world are properly vetted and able to come to the United States next summer easily.”

In this Sept. 1, 2020 file photo, former FIFA President Sepp Blatter, center, appears in front of the building of the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland, in Bern, Switzerland. Former FIFA president Blatter spent a week in an induced coma after having heart surgery in December, his family said on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2021. (Peter Schneider/Keystone)

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“I’ve directed my administration to do everything within the power to make the 2026 World Cup an unprecedented success. I think it’s going to be the greatest, and we are setting records on ticket sales,” Trump said at the time.

Infantino said the organization expected “between 5 and 10 million people coming to America from… all over the world to enjoy the World Cup.”

Fox News’ Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report.

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Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo makes NBA history with 83-point game

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Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo makes NBA history with 83-point game

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Miami Heat star Bam Adebayo made NBA history on Tuesday night.

Adebayo scored 83 points, all while setting league marks for free throws made and attempted in a game for the Miami Heat in a 150-129 win over the Washington Wizards. It is the second-highest scoring game for a player ever, only to Wilt Chamberlain’s famed 100-point game.

“An absolutely surreal night,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra told reporters after the game.

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Adebayo started with a 31-point first quarter. He was up to 43 at halftime, 62 by the end of the third quarter. And then came the fourth, when the milestones kept falling despite facing double-, triple- and what once appeared to be a quadruple-team from a Wizards defense that kept sending him to the foul line.

He finished 20 of 43 from the field, 36 of 43 from the foul line, 7 for 22 from 3-point range.

After the game, he was seen in tears while he hugged his mother, Marilyn Blount, before leaving the floor after the game.

“Welp won’t have the highest career high in the house anymore,” Adebayo’s girlfriend, four-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson, wrote on social media, “but at least it gives me something to go after.”

MAGIC’S ANTHONY BLACK MAKES INCREDIBLE DUNK OVER FOUR DEFENDERS IN HISTORIC NBA GAME

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Bam Adebayo #13 of the Miami Heat celebrates during the fourth quarter of the game against the Washington Wizards at Kaseya Center on March 10, 2026, in Miami, Florida.  (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)

The NBA’s previous best this season was 56, by Nikola Jokic for Denver against Minnesota on Christmas night. The last player to have 62 points through three quarters: one of Adebayo’s basketball heroes, Kobe Bryant, who had exactly that many through three quarters for the Los Angeles Lakers against Dallas on Dec. 20, 2005.

He wound up passing Bryant for single-game scoring as well. Bryant’s career-best was 81 — a game that was the second-best on the NBA scoring list for two decades.

Adebayo scored 31 points in the opening quarter against the Wizards, breaking the Heat record for points in any quarter — and tying the team record for points in a first half before the second quarter even started.

He finished the first half with 43 points, a team record for any half and two points better than his previous career high — for a full game, that is — of 41, set Jan. 23, 2021, against Brooklyn.

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Adebayo’s season high entering Tuesday was 32. He matched that with a free throw with 5:53 left in the second quarter, breaking the Heat first-half scoring record.

Adebayo’s 43-point first half was the NBA’s second-best in at least the last 30 seasons — going back to the start of the digital play-by-play era that began in the 1996-97 season.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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Kings lose in overtime to the Boston Bruins

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Kings lose in overtime to the Boston Bruins

Charlie McAvoy scored 39 seconds into overtime and Jeremy Swayman stopped 14 shots on Tuesday night to earn the Boston Bruins their 13th straight victory at home, 2-1 over the Kings.

Mason Lohrei scored midway through the third period to break a scoreless tie. But the Kings tied it five minutes later when Drew Doughty’s shot from the blue line deflected off the heel of Bruins forward Elias Lindholm and into the net.

It was the seventh straight time the teams had gone to overtime in Boston.

In the overtime, Mark Kastelic blocked a shot in the defensive zone and made a long pass to David Pastrnak, who waited for McAvoy to come into the zone. The Bruins’ defenseman and U.S. Olympian, who went to the locker room at the end of the second period after taking a puck off his mouth, skated in on Darcy Kuemper and went to his backhand for the winner.

Kuemper stopped 21 shots for the Kings, who entered the night one point out of the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. The victory kept Boston in possession of the East’s second wild-card spot.

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Swayman tied his career high with his 25th win of the season. The Bruins haven’t lost at the TD Garden since before Christmas.

After the game, Kings forward and future Hall of Famer Anze Kopitar stayed on the ice to shake hands with the Bruins after what is expected to be his last game in Boston.

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Jon Jones requests UFC release after Dana White says legend was ‘never’ considered him for White House card

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Jon Jones requests UFC release after Dana White says legend was ‘never’ considered him for White House card

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Mixed martial arts legend Jon Jones ended his retirement from UFC simply because he wanted a spot on the “Freedom 250” fight card at the White House in June. 

But, when UFC CEO Dana White announced the card during UFC 326 this past weekend, Jones wasn’t among the fighters. As a result, he has requested a release from his UFC contract. 

White was candid when asked about Jones following the UFC 326 card. 

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Jon Jones of the United States of America reacts after his TKO victory against Stipe Miocic of the United States of America in the UFC heavyweight championship fight during the UFC 309 event at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 16, 2024 in New York City.  ((Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images))

“Never, ever, ever, which I told you guys a hundred thousands times, was Jon Jones ever even remotely in my mind to fight at the White House,” White explained, per CBS Sports. “Some guy with Meta Glasses filmed him talking about his hips – that his hips are so bad. And I don’t know if you guys saw that flag football game where he can barely run. Jon Jones retired because of his hips. He’s got arthritis in his hips. Apparently, doctors say he should have a hip replacement.”

White added that “the Jon Jones thing is bulls—,” saying that he texted the fighter’s lawyer saying he would never be on the White House card despite Jones saying he was in negotiations for it. 

UFC ANNOUNCES CARD FOR WHITE HOUSE EVENT

The Meta Glasses incident White is referring to came from a viral video, where Jones, unaware he was being filmed, discussed issues with his hips to a fan. 

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On Monday, Jones composed a thorough response to White’s comments about him and the White House Card. He previously posted and deleted social media explanations, but Monday’s appeared to be his final statement on the matter. 

UFC President Dana White speaks after UFC Fight Night at Toyota Center on Feb. 21, 2026.  (Troy Taormina/Imagn Images)

“Yes, I have arthritis in my hip and it’s painful, but that doesn’t mean I can’t fight,” Jones, who retired a heavyweight champion in 2025, said. “So let me get this straight, if I had accepted the lowball offer, suddenly my hip would be fine and I’d be on the White House card? That doesn’t make sense. I even received stem cell treatment last week to get ready for the White House card, and training camp was scheduled to start today. I was preparing to be ready. 

“I understand business deals fall through sometimes, but going out publicly and saying things that aren’t true isn’t right. After everything I’ve given to the UFC, the years, the title defenses, the fights, hearing that I’m ‘done’ is disappointing. Especially when as recently as Friday UFC was calling me trying to get me on that White House card for a much lower number.”

Jones finished his statement by saying he “respectfully” asks to be released from his UFC contract.

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Jon Jones enters the ring before facing Stipe Miocic in the UFC heavyweight championship fight during the UFC 309 event at Madison Square Garden on November 16, 2024 in New York City, New York. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)

“No more spins, no more games. Thank you to the real fans who know what’s up,” he wrote. 

The UFC did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Fox News Digital.

Jones is considered one of the best UFC fighters of all time, owning a 28-1-1 record, which includes his last bout with Stipe Miocic, knocking him out to take the heavyweight title belt. He is also a two-time light heavyweight champion. 

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