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 United States (US) preparations to fall behind.
The previously unreported briefings from US 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 US 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 US, Canada and Mexico.
While security at such events is always intense, US 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 US 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 (FEMA), 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 organisers 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 US 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 Centre Association, which represents a network of 80 information centres across the US 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 US and Canada.
The documents were obtained through open records requests by the transparency nonprofit Property of the People.
–Reuters–
