Jibril Rajoub, the head of the Palestinian Football Association, has found himself stranded in Mexico City, waiting for a U.S. visa that would allow him to travel to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. His request is part of a larger set of denials that have affected delegates from several nations, including Somalia and Iraq, as the United States tightens its visa policy for foreign football officials.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has acknowledged the visa hurdles but stressed that the U.S. government holds the final say on entry, leaving the world governing body powerless to intervene.
Visa Diplomacy and International Scrutiny
The restrictions extend beyond the tournament, with the United States having revoked a visa previously granted to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, underscoring a broader tightening of travel permissions for Palestinian passport holders.
Rajoub and his colleagues have turned the dispute into a political statement, accusing Israel of violating statutes by allowing clubs from West Bank settlements to compete in its domestic league, and they have called for FIFA to impose sanctions.
The controversy is amplified by the devastation in Gaza, where the ongoing conflict has razed or severely damaged 80 % of sports facilities and claimed the lives of at least 565 players, according to the Palestinian Football Association.
When Russia hosted the 2018 World Cup, it did not impose comparable visa curbs on invited participants, a contrast that Rajoub and his allies cite to highlight the exceptional nature of the current U.S. stance.