“We Are Being Made to Look Like Fools”: How Trump Is Weaponizing World Cup Visas
The FIFA Men’s World Cup starts next week—and some players still don’t know whether they’ll be able to travel to their matches.
On Wednesday, Switzerland’s main goalscorer, Breel Embolo, applied for a visa at the US embassy in the country’s capital after US officials blocked him from boarding a flight with his teammates to their World Cup training camp in San Diego the day before.
The Swiss soccer federation stated that the US has been reviewing Embolo’s criminal conviction after a 2018 altercation in Basel, Switzerland. The verdict was finalized in April.
“The embassy’s inquiries focused specifically on whether any physical violence had been involved. This was not the case,” the Swiss soccer body said in a statement. According to Swiss outlets, Embolo was sentenced to a fine of roughly $165,000, conditional on two years of probation, for making multiple threats during an argument.
Meanwhile, the men’s national team of South Africa, a frequent target of the Trump administration over “white........
