World Cup matches in USA face 'real' terrorism threat: 'High possibility that something bad will happen'

An FBI agent has told The Guardian that there's a "very real possibility that something bad will happen" during the FIFA World Cup matches in the USA amid conflict with Iran.

The FIFA World Cup 2026 will be played across the US, Canada and Mexico. But 78 out of 104 games will be played in the US alone.

The FBI held a residential training camp in March as they get ready to counter any possible terrorism threat during the World Cup that starts on 11 June and will be played till 19 July. 11 US cities will host the FIFA event.

'Terror attack inevitable during World Cup'

One of the FBI agents who was part of the training camp has said the enormity of the tournament, which has now been expanded to 48 teams from 32, makes it almost impossible to host a 100% foolproof event.

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“It will be hard to control, given the environment and the number of locations of matches and watch parties across the United States. There is a very real possibility that something bad will happen,” the FBI agent said on the condition of anonymity.

Javed Ali, who has previously worked in the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and served as national security council senior director for counter-terrorism, told the publication that the lack of resources has only increased the risk of a terrorist attack during the World Cup.

“We need to protect not only each venue, but all the other links in the chain that get to the point of the game,” said Javed Ali, who now works as an associate professor at the University of Michigan. “There are just so many games. There’s only so many resources to deploy to try to buy down risk against a number of different threats.”

US-Iran threat complicates matters

While the US has been hosting mega sporting events, including the Super Bowl, the large number of World Cup matches spread across 11 venues has created an unprecedented challenge. The conflict between the US and Iran has only heightened the terrorism risk, The Guardian says.

Interestingly, only the final in New Jersey has been designated as a ‘national special security event’ (NSSE) by the Department of Homeland Security. The security for an NSSE event is arranged by the United States Secret Service, the FBI and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Other World Cup matches have been designated special event assessment rating (SEAR) 1 or 2, which also requires involvement of federal law enforcement.

Experts believe that potential lone threats in "densely" populated areas pose a big threat to security agencies, while there's a fear of communication breakdown between security agencies. Multiple assassination attempts against US president Donald Trump in recent years had been a result of a similar communication breakdown.