MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — 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’s security and planning for the tournament, working with agencies that include the departments of Homeland Security, Transportation, Justice and others.
“We’re fascinated to see what tonight looks like,” Andrew Giuliani, the task force's executive director, told The Associated Press. “I think tonight especially, the reason why I wanted to be here was because soccer fans can be highly emotional. You’re 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’m very interested to see what that looks like ... and how we can learn from this game for the World Cup.
“It’s not a perfect apples-to-apples comparison, but it’s probably one of the closest we’re going get between now and the kickoff to the World Cup.”
The World Cup has an expanded field of 48 teams playing 104 matches, and it's the first time 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 will be July 19 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 ticketless fans rushed the gates for a match against Argentina, leaving fans terrified and bloodied as security struggled to contain the crush.
Recommended for you
The Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office has since said it learned lessons from that incident. There was increased security last summer at the Club World Cup, including added checkpoints that will likely remain in place this year.
“If you don’t have tickets, you shouldn’t be on site here,” Giuliani said. “It’s not like an American football game where there’s tailgating. This is very different. We want to make sure the security resources are here for those ticketed fans. If you’re not ticketed, you have fan festivals. You have other events in the Miami area where you can go and enjoy and be safe.”
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has said the task force will ensure that every visitor who travels from around the world “feels safe, feels happy and feels that we are doing something special.”
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.