The World Cup 2026 locked thousands of fans out, and it came down to a visa
The US travel ban covers 39 countries, four of them qualified for the World Cup 2026. Fans from five more faced a $15,000 visa bond — Cape Verde among them.
On Sunday, MetLife Stadium will fill up for the World Cup final. But there’s a set of fans this tournament never got to welcome, and it wasn’t for want of a ticket. They couldn’t get a visa into the United States.
Which countries’ fans were shut out of the World Cup 2026?
The US travel ban covers citizens of 39 countries, and four of them qualified: Haiti, Iran, Ivory Coast and Senegal. There were carve-outs — players, coaches and essential squad staff got in, as did dual nationals, permanent residents and anyone already holding a valid visa. Which means the teams played and the ordinary supporters watched from the sofa.
Where does Cape Verde come into this?
Through a different door, and it’s the one closest to home. Citizens of five participating countries — Algeria, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Tunisia — holding non-immigrant visas faced a $15,000 bond to attend matches on US soil. Fifteen thousand dollars. To watch football.
In mid-May, the US government waived the requirement for fans from those five countries who had already bought tickets as of mid-April. That’s real relief, but it arrived late for a lot of people: anyone who hesitated over a ticket precisely because of the bond ended up on the wrong side of both rules.
For Portugal this isn’t a distant problem. Cape Verde made the debut of its life at this World Cup, and much of the Cape Verdean community celebrating every match did it from Lisbon, Setúbal or Porto — because going in person was never realistically on the table. That 2-2 draw with Uruguay was roared louder on the south bank of the Tagus than in any American stand.
Was it only the fans?
No. A Somali referee was refused entry despite holding a valid visa, and an Iraqi striker was held for seven hours of questioning, phone inspection included. When even the people working the tournament can’t cross the border without incident, the word “host” starts needing quote marks.
Add the dynamic pricing that pushed final tickets close to €9,500 and the picture completes itself: the best-attended World Cup ever was also one of the hardest to reach for anyone without the right passport or a deep enough wallet. Official schedules and information live on FIFA’s site, and the running bracket is in our daily tracker.
A 48-team World Cup was sold as the most open tournament ever. It opened the pitch to more countries — and closed the door on a lot of their fans.
By Vasco Almada
Image: Kenneth C. Zirkel / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
