The 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off in June — and HuffPost will be live-blogging every twist, turn and controversy from the buildup through the final of what’s widely shaping up to be the most political soccer tournament of all time.From the action on the pitch to the potential chaos off it, the storylines are already piling up: Iran’s possible non-participation amid Donald Trump’s war, the president’s close relationship with FIFA’s Peace Prize-awarding President Gianni Infantino, and simmering tensions between the U.S. and fellow host nations Mexico and Canada fueled by Trump’s tariffs and divisive rhetoric.Trump’s travel bans could keep some fans out, there’s been fury over soaring ticket prices, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents could be present at games as the Trump administration continues its anti-immigration crackdown.Not to mention extreme heat concerns that scorched all those involved the last time the U.S. hosted the tournament some 32 years ago, in 1994.And that’s all before a ball has been kicked.U.S. President Donald Trump received the FIFA Peace Prize from FIFA President Gianni Infantino in December.Andrew Harnik via Getty ImagesOn the field, the men’s national teams from 48 countries will compete in a record 104 matches across the three host nations in what will be the biggest World Cup in history.Mexico will take on South Africa at the iconic Mexico City Stadium in the opening game on June 11. The U.S. will play Paraguay in Los Angeles on June 12, Australia in Seattle on June 19 and Turkey back in Los Angeles on June 25, in the group games, before potentially competing in the later knockout rounds.The final will be held on July 19 at MetLife Stadium, which is being temporarily rebranded as the New York/New Jersey Stadium for the competition.Current European champions Spain are favorites to lift the trophy. Defending champions Argentina, of Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi fame, along with France, England and Brazil, are also expected to be in the mix.Check out the full games schedule on the FIFA website.Follow along with our coverage below:9 Injured In Shooting Near England's World Cup Base CampNine people sustained non-life-threatening injuries in a shooting near England's World Cup base camp in Kansas City, Missouri, on Saturday, days before the tournament is due to kick off.Kansas City police said there were no suspects in custody and that at least three of the shooting victims were transported to local hospitals.The incident occurred roughly four miles from where England are set to train at the Swope Soccer Village. England have not arrived in Kansas City and are due to play a friendly against Costa Rica in Orlando, Florida, on Wednesday.A spokesperson for the FA declined to comment.There were more than 400 mass shootings in the U.S. in 2025, according to the Gun Violence Archive.Latest Live UpdatesFIFA Cancels Free World Cup Tickets Issued By Checkout GlitchFIFA has cancelled World Cup tickets for about 60 fans who were able to mistakenly purchase them for free due to a website error, and world soccer's governing body is now asking for them to be paid in full.The affected fans were notified on Wednesday about tickets that were "allocated at no charge (0 USD) due to a prior payment issue during the checkout process", FIFA said on X.“The tickets requested by these fans remain reserved, and the affected fans have been invited to complete payment of the correct amount. FIFA regrets the error and any inconvenience caused."It was the latest hiccup in what has been a controversial ticketing process for the tournament co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Last week the attorneys general of New York and New Jersey said they had issued a subpoena to FIFA over its ticketing practices amid concerns about ‌fans' seat locations at the World Cup.The 48-team tournament runs from June 11 to July 19.Soccer Star Collapses On Field Again In Frightening Scene, Years After Cardiac ArrestChristian Eriksen was conscious and undergoing further tests in the hospital after collapsing on the field again while playing for Denmark’s national team on Sunday in a scary scene that had echoes of his cardiac arrest at the European Championship five years ago.TV footage showed the 34-year-old midfielder clutching his chest with both hands in an off-the-ball action in the 65th minute of Denmark’s international friendly against Ukraine at Nature Energy Park in Odense, Denmark.In the next TV image shown, Erikson was lying on his back on the ground, surrounded by worried-looking players. Ukraine’s coaching staff were seen waving medical personnel onto the field.Within minutes, the Danish soccer federation sent a post on X saying Eriksen was “conscious and, under the circumstances, doing well.”A fuller statement by the federation came 10 minutes later, with Denmark team physician Morten Boesen saying: “Christian is doing well and walked off the pitch by himself. As I see it, the pacemaker responded as it should.“He was briefly unconscious, but regained consciousness very quickly, and we were quickly in contact with him.”Boesen said Eriksen “will now undergo further examinations at the hospital to determine what caused the incident.”“We are in ongoing contact with him and the doctors at the hospital," Boesen added. "But Christian is doing well, and he asked me to send his regards to all the players and tell them that he was OK.”The game was officially abandoned by the referee in the 79th minute — with Denmark leading 2-1 and there having been no further play after Eriksen's collapse — after the match official spoke to both coaches and sets of players.While Eriksen was being treated, there was initially a hush in the crowd before a chant of “Eriksen, Eriksen” went around the stadium.After the match was called off, players from both teams formed a circle around the two coaches in one half of the field. The coaches were seen talking to the players. The teams then walked around the field to applause from the crowd, with some players visibly upset.Denmark greatEriksen, one of Denmark’s greatest ever players, was fitted with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator in the months following his face-forward collapse during Denmark’s opening European Championship group game in 2021, against Finland in Copenhagen.In that incident that sent soccer into shock, Eriksen was resuscitated during a lengthy period of on-field medical treatment led by Boesen and said he was later informed he was “gone from this world for five minutes.”Eriksen resumed his professional playing career 259 days later after getting a contract at Brentford in the Premier League. After a spell at Manchester United from 2022-25, he joined German club Wolfsburg in a deal through the 2026-27 season.In a post on X, Wolfsburg said Eriksen had been taken to Odense University Hospital and that the club was following developments.“All the best and a speedy recovery, Christian,” Wolfsburg said.United also released a statement, saying it was “encouraged by Denmark’s update on Christian Eriksen.”“The club is sending strength and love to Christian and the Eriksen family as we await further news,” United said.Neither Denmark nor Ukraine have qualified for the World Cup.Iran's National Soccer Team Arrives In Mexico Amid U.S. TensionsTIJUANA, June 7 (Reuters) - Iran’s national soccer team arrived in Tijuana early on Sunday ahead of three World Cup matches in the United States, amid tensions that have turned the world’s biggest sporting event into a soft-power contest between the warring countries.The squad touched down shortly after five a.m. (1200 GMT) in the Mexican city, across the border from San Diego, after an overnight flight from Turkey where they have been training for the past three weeks.As the team’s bus pulled away from Tijuana airport, it paused briefly so members of the federation could wave to about 20 fans holding Iranian flags. A cordon of military and police escorted the team from the airport to the Marriott hotel, which will serve as their base.Soccer is virtually a religion in Iran, a national pastime beloved by people across the political spectrum. But for Iran’s team, the tournament has been marred by fraught politics at home, the war with the U.S., and tensions over whether they would actually be able to set foot on U.S. soil to play their games.Even their presence in Tijuana is politically tinged. The Iranian federation negotiated at the last minute to move the team’s base camp from Arizona to Mexico, due to uncertainty over whether they would be granted visas and a growing feeling in Iran that the squad’s presence in the U.S. should be kept to a minimum, Iran’s ambassador in Mexico, Abolfazl Pasandideh, told Reuters.Iran are scheduled to play their first two Group G games near Los Angeles, against New Zealand on June 15 and Belgium on June 21, and then face Egypt in Seattle on June 26. Iran and the U.S. could meet in the round of 32 if both teams come second in their groups.PRESSURE ON PLAYERSThis is the first ‌World Cup since its inception in 1930 in which a host nation is set to receive a country it is at war with.But the U.S. tensions are just one of several factors that have turned the World Cup into a political battleground for the Iranian team.Widespread protests that erupted late last year, calling for an end to clerical rule, culminated in a sweeping crackdown that killed more than 2,000 people in the deadliest unrest since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. The U.S. and Israel then attacked Iran on February 28, sparking a months-long war that continues.Iran’s soccer team were under pressure from all sides, said Abbas Milani, director of Iranian studies at Stanford University.“It has become a lose-lose for the players,” Milani said. “There are pressures on players not to play with the team, pressure to show comity with the people, and the athletes are just there to play soccer,” he said.During the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Iran’s team were both cheered and jeered after refusing to sing the national anthem, which was viewed as an act of solidarity with anti-government protesters back home. Since then, the pressures on the team had only increased, Milani said.VISA DRAMAAfter weeks of uncertainty, the U.S. awarded visas to all the players on Friday, just 10 days before their first match.But several members of the Iranian squad were not given visas, including “key managerial and administrative members,” according to Iran’s football federation, which accused the U.S. of breaching its host obligations and violating FIFA regulations.Pasandideh, the Iranian ambassador, said 15 of the 70 members of the party who arrived in Tijuana on Sunday had not been given visas to enter the U.S.FIFA did not respond to a request for comment about the dispute.An official with the U.S. State Department told Reuters on Friday that the administration had issued "the visas necessary for Iran to compete in the World Cup, including for athletes and necessary support staff." The official added: "We will not allow the Iranian team to abuse this system to sneak terrorists into the U.S. under false pretenses.”Mexico’s willingness to host the Iran squad was a "gesture of cooperation," said Tonatiuh Guillen, who ran Mexico’s national immigration agency between 2018 and 2019.(Reporting by Emily Green; editing by Tomasz Janowski and Clare Fallon)Iraq World Cup Striker Questioned For Hours At Chicago Airport, Source SaysIraq’s World Cup striker, Aymen Hussein, was held and questioned for nearly seven hours at Chicago’s O’Hare airport after arriving with the squad early on Saturday, an Iraqi sporting official said.Hussein was finally allowed in, but the team’s photographer was barred from entering the United States, said the official who works for the Iraqi Olympic Committee, but has close contacts with the team.There was no immediate comment from the Iraqi Football Association, or from Hussein, a talismanic figure who scored the goal that secured the team’s qualification for the finals.Read more from Reuters:Stadium Workers Authorize Strike Ahead Of The World CupThousands of workers at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium are threatening to strike, citing insufficient pay and plans for ICE officers to be present at the World Cup — and raising the possibility that the massive soccer tournament could start without workers to sell food and drinks to spectators.Unite Here Local 11, which represents more than 2,000 cooks, dishwashers, concession workers, bartenders and servers at SoFi, announced Friday that members voted 96% in favor of authorizing a strike.The vote took place just one week out from when the stadium is set to host its first World Cup match.Read more here. Iran's World Cup Team Approved To Play Games In The U.S.Members of Iran’s World Cup soccer team have been granted visas to the United States, two U.S. officials said Friday, clearing them to enter the United States from their training base in Tijuana, Mexico, ahead of their first two matches near Los Angeles this month.The team’s participation in the World Cup has been complicated by Iran’s war with Israel and the United States. Problems with processing visas had earlier led Iran to move its training base from Tucson, Arizona, to Tijuana, on Mexico’s border with California.One U.S. official said all players on the Iranian team were approved for visas and were in the process of receiving them. A second official said visas had been issued for players, coaches, trainers and some support staff. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the visas publicly.Read more from The Associated Press:World Cup Favorites Spain Held By Iraq In FriendlyEuropean champions Spain were held to a 1-1 draw by Iraq in a World Cup warm-up in A Coruna on Thursday, with manager Luis de la Fuente resting several key players before their final friendly against Peru in Puebla, Mexico, on Monday.De la Fuente left out Lamine Yamal, Nico Williams, David Raya, Victor Munoz, Marc Cucurella, Pedri, Fabian Ruiz, Martin Zubimendi, Rodri and Mikel Oyarzabal because of fitness concerns, leaving Spain with a heavily rotated starting line-up.The result was a subdued send-off for Spain on home soil before they travel to North America on Friday. They will begin their World Cup campaign in Group H against Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia and Uruguay.Spain struggled to break down an organised Iraq side whose compact low block denied the hosts the rhythm that carried them to the 2024 European Championship title in Germany.The hosts took the lead in the 16th minute in a quick counter attack, with Ferran Torres bursting through the middle from midfield into the box before firing past the goalkeeper.Iraq equalised through Merchas Doski in the 27th minute with a superb left-footed strike from a difficult angle on the left edge of the box, the ball arcing over Barcelona goalkeeper Joan Garcia, who was slightly off his line, and dropping into the net.Torres struck the crossbar in the 40th minute, but Spain found clear openings hard to come by against disciplined opponents who will play only their second World Cup in Group I with France, Senegal and Norway.FIFA Bans One Of The World Cup's Most Infamous And Iconic SoundsSoccer fans looking to bring the party to World Cup games will have to go without vuvuzelas, with FIFA banning the plastic horns from venues in the U.S., Canada and Mexico in its stadium code of conduct.Vuvuzelas, a horn made with a long plastic shell, are a staple of South African soccer matches and took the world by storm at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. But they have drawn criticism over their monotonous droning sound, often likened to a swarm of bees.Along with vuvuzelas, whistles, air horns and other excessively loud noise-making devices are prohibited from all 16 World Cup venues, according to FIFA's stadium code of conduct.Instruments that emit laser beams, laser pointers or similar emissions are also banned.The list of prohibited items and behaviors goes on to state that body paint and body tattoos do not constitute as clothing. Streaking, flashing or removing clothing to reveal intimate body parts is also prohibited.FIFA has also banned spectators from bringing reusable water bottles into venues, citing safety concerns.Attendees who violate the rules can be refused entry or removed from the stadium, the code says.The expanded 48-team World Cup, hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico, runs from June 11 to July 19. Mexico will open the tournament against South Africa on June 11.Japan's World Cup Preparations Take Unexpected Turn After Viral Pitch ControversyJapan are making a brief stay in Monterrey, Mexico, during their World Cup journey, but the early returns have not been encouraging.In fact, Japan changed practice venues within the city Thursday after encountering subpar conditions at Tigres UANL's field.Video of Japan training at Tigres' facility went viral on Mexican social media Wednesday, as the pitch had visible signs of wear.While the Japanese delegation did not say why they moved Thursday, players headed to a different part of the metro area and practiced at El Barrial, the practice facility belonging to Tigres' rivals C.F. Monterrey.Japan will set up their base camp in Nashville, Tenn., but won't arrive there until Monday.They'll open Group F play against the Netherlands on June 14 in Arlington, Texas. They'll face Tunisia at Estadio BBVA in Guadalupe, the home of C.F. Monterrey, on June 20 and return to Arlington to play Sweden on June 25.Soccer Star Learns His World Cup Fate After U.S. Embassy ShowdownSwitzerland forward Breel Embolo could not travel with the team on Tuesday due to a flagged visa, but the Switzerland football federation on Thursday announced that Embolo would be joining his teammates later this week."We have just been informed that Breel Embolo's visa has been approved," a statement from the federation read. "He will therefore be able to travel to the United States. He is expected to join the team on Friday evening."A 29-year-old striker with 24 international goals to his credit as a member of the Swiss team, Embolo's absence would have certainly been felt.At the club level, Embolo has most recently competed for French side Stade Rebbaus FC, where he had 10 goals in 2025-26.Per the BBC, the snag came up due to a previous conviction over an altercation in Basel in 2018. Embolo had been convicted of making threats five years later, which he chose not to appeal.That left his fate to be decided at a meeting at the US Embassy in Bern, where he made his case on Wednesday.Switzerland is scheduled to open the World Cup on June 13 against Qatar in Group B play in Santa Clara, Calif. Other members of the group include Canada and Bosnia and Herzegovina.See All Updates