MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) 鈥� Members of the White House Task Force on the 2026 World Cup attended the College Football Playoff national championship game on Monday night as part of their preparation for the tournament that is expected to draw millions of tourists to the United States, Canada and Mexico this summer.
The task force, created by President Donald Trump, is coordinating the federal government鈥檚 security and planning for the tournament, working with agencies that include the departments of Homeland Security, Transportation, Justice and others.
鈥淲e鈥檙e fascinated to see what tonight looks like,鈥� Andrew Giuliani, the task force’s executive director, told The Associated Press. 鈥淚 think tonight especially, the reason why I wanted to be here was because soccer fans can be highly emotional. You鈥檙e obviously tonight going to get an emotional fan base with the University of Miami being here that is either going to be very happy or not as happy after the end of this. So I鈥檓 very interested to see what that looks like … and how we can learn from this game for the World Cup.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not a perfect apples-to-apples comparison, but it鈥檚 probably one of the closest we鈥檙e going get between now and the kickoff to the World Cup.鈥�
The World Cup has an expanded field of 48 teams playing 104 matches, and it’s the the tournament will be played across three countries. Seventy-eight of 104 matches will be played in the U.S., with 13 games each in Mexico and Canada, and as many as six matches a day. The final at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Hard Rock Stadium, where Miami faced Indiana in Monday’s CFP title game, will host seven matches, including one between Colombia and Portugal on June 27. Colombia played at the home stadium of the Miami Dolphins during the 2024 Copa America, when for a match against Argentina, leaving fans terrified and bloodied as security struggled to contain the crush.
The Miami-Dade Sheriff鈥檚 Office has since said it learned lessons from that incident. There was last summer at the Club World Cup, including added checkpoints that will likely remain in place this year.
鈥淚f you don鈥檛 have tickets, you shouldn鈥檛 be on site here,鈥� Giuliani said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not like an American football game where there鈥檚 tailgating. This is very different. We want to make sure the security resources are here for those ticketed fans. If you鈥檙e not ticketed, you have fan festivals. You have other events in the Miami area where you can go and enjoy and be safe.鈥�
FIFA President Gianni Infantino the task force will ensure that every visitor who travels from around the world 鈥渇eels safe, feels happy and feels that we are doing something special.鈥�
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