The State Department’s secret playbook for using sports to advance Trump’s agenda
Perhaps the State Department should call itself the Department of Sports.
President Donald Trump has kept most of Foggy Bottom’s embassies out of the world’s biggest problems, relying on Secretary of State Marco Rubio, his small leadership team and a handful of special envoys. But the State Department finds itself on the front lines of an unexpectedly difficult national challenge: reconciling Trump’s anti-immigration views with his desire to successfully host the World Cup.
The United States’ role as a participant in the world’s premier sporting event gives the department an opportunity to prove its worth, according to interviews with department officials and documents obtained by POLITICO. The documents also include a “Sports Diplomacy Playbook” that explains how the country should use major events like the World Cup and the Olympics to promote a mix of soft power goals and foreign investment, as well as some of Trump’s social policy priorities.
“The government has a very important role to play, especially from an outsider’s perspective,” said John Feeley, former US ambassador to Panama, one of the 48 countries that sent teams to the tournament.
Many US embassies and embassies around the world are recruiting staff to help process incoming fan visas, and are creating a new World Cup-specific visa processing program to prioritize ticket holders in embassy interviews. At the same time, the State Department is asking other countries to share information about those who call themselves football hooligans so that it can deny them visas, said a current and former State official. The two were not identified because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.
“People at the State Department will do everything they can to meet this challenge, but they have two audiences,” said Gerald Feierstein, a former US diplomat who held positions including ambassador to Yemen. “They have an audience from other countries, where there will be a desire to roll out the welcome mat. Another audience is this xenophobic group that looks around the world and sees a lot of people they don’t like and don’t want to see coming here. That’s the way the State Department is going to go.”
When asked to comment, the Department of State spokesperson’s office referred to Rubio’s words late last year, when he praised his department’s efforts to significantly reduce visa waiting times for people planning to attend the World Cup.
Despite that, he said: “Our advice to all people is that if you have a ticket for any of these games, you should apply if you haven’t done so as soon as possible. Don’t wait until the last minute. Your ticket is not a visa.”
Banning of other followers
While some countries have hordes of fans chasing tickets and visas, the biggest challenge for embassies is not numbers. Instead it’s the many rules and regulations that Trump has put in place that make the visa process even more difficult than it was a year ago.
Trump has issued executive orders barring the travel of more than a dozen countries, including four World Cup winners, with varying degrees of restrictions. Travelers from Iran and Haiti, for example, are subject to the June 2025 ban, which includes a few exceptions. Two others, Senegal and Ivory Coast, are subject to the latest decision, which took effect this month.
Both travel bans provide a complete exemption for players and team staff attending the World Cup and Olympics, although those exceptions are far from complete. Players, coaches and other team personnel will still have to meet the general guidelines. For example, a football coach who is suspected of having ties to a group the US considers a criminal or terrorist group may still be denied a visa.
Iran is “going through major, major changes right now as we speak, so that will be a very different picture when prime time comes,” said Andrew Giuliani, head of the FIFA White House Task Force, whose members include Rubio. The administration is “actively and aggressively monitoring the situation,” Giuliani continued.
Some governments want to send their sports officials and athletes using official visas or embassies because those people are often on the government payroll. But U.S. officials must reject those requests “because their purpose of travel is not really the government’s purpose,” the State official said.
The administration also imposed new fees on travelers, up to $15,000 in visa bonds, from other countries, including World Cup rivals Algeria and Cape Verde. Consular vetters may also have new reasons to deny applicants, including posting comments on social media deemed antisemitic, supportive of terrorism, or hostile to “US citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles.”
FIFA, the world soccer governing body that oversees the World Cup, has always maintained that it does not expect participating countries to change their immigration policies or review their four-year plans. FIFA officials have confirmed that FIFA has no plans to challenge Trump on visa and immigration issues. Soccer officials, however, have shown that they are willing to do their own diplomacy to balance FIFA’s global position and Trump’s choice of America First policy. The agency notified participating cities of the expected travel ban before the White House announced it, and worked to liaise with Iran and the State Department as the country struggled to obtain visas for authorized delegates to the World Cup held in Washington in December.
Beyond the World Cup and the Olympics, the secretary of state is empowered under the travel ban order to designate any “other major sporting event” for a similar exemption.
Rubio made the decision last August for a team from Venezuela to join the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. It is unclear after the US military operation that ousted Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro whether a similar venue will be held for the World Baseball Classic in March, when Venezuela will play four games in Miami.
“We understand that every visa decision is a national security decision. So there’s a reason why the president and Secretary Rubio have set strict guidelines on that,” Giuliani said. “We want to be as inclusive as possible, and not ignore that bad actors can end up coming from different countries, or spend a lot of time.”
Well for the hooligans
The expansion of the State Department’s embassy staff is likely to continue past the World Cup and at least through the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The department’s World Cup visa processing system – called FIFA Pass – is expected to go into effect at the end of the month.
The State Department is working with Customs and Border Protection to obtain a list of known football racketeers from other state governments, according to former and current State officials. Hooliganism, a label applied to fans who disrupt games and commit crimes, sometimes in an organized manner, has been a major problem in several countries competing in the World Cup, including Greece, Egypt and Turkey.
Argentina has been open about sharing its list of such fans with the United States ahead of major soccer events. And, when asked about the hooligans, Colombian Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez told POLITICO in an interview that Bogota will share any information the US needs to “protect its citizens, its country” as long as international law is respected.
In a statement, CBP declined to elaborate on the suspects, but said it uses a multi-screening process to “identify potential threats before travelers arrive in the United States.”
The ‘playbook’ for all sports
The leaders of the State Department have made it clear through their positions through cables, emails and other communications that they must help ensure that the World Cup in particular is a success.
“The messages we are getting are that this is a national priority,” said the current state official.
A nine-page “Sports Diplomacy Playbook” shared with State employees in December lays out how the department should approach what the administration calls the “Decade of Sports” — including the World Cup, the 2028 and 2034 Olympics, and other major U.S. sporting events.
“I think if you think about other people who might come to the United States, they might have ideas of what the United States of America is based on what they’ve heard,” Giuliani said. “We get a chance to show them what the United States of America really is.”
The critical but unlisted playbook encourages US diplomats to use upcoming events to encourage more business investment and engage foreign citizens with gatherings such as parties to watch the games. Strategists are also encouraged to use only domestic sporting events, such as the upcoming Super Bowl, to promote the American brand.
The playbook outlines a number of other goals, including using this decade to assert US leadership in international sports organizations to “prevent adversaries, such as China and Russia, from leading international organizations.” [and] exploiting international games for propaganda purposes.”
In September, foreign media reports said the Trump administration was preparing to use its diplomatic resources to counter European-led efforts to remove Israel from international competition. A State Department official told Sky News that it will try to block any attempt to block Israel’s national soccer team from the World Cup.
Sometimes, the State Department’s sports programming reflects Trump’s social policy priorities.
The administration has already moved to make it harder for trans athletes to get visas, and the playbook document recommends pressuring the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee to comply with Trump’s executive orders “to protect the opportunities for women and girls to compete in safe and fair environments.” The State Department says it will use “sports-based exchange programs” to pursue those goals around the world.
A mid-November cable Rubio sent to ambassadors around the world even mentioned Trump’s personal favorite, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, as a possible inspiration for American ambassadors to showcase America and its culture.
“Be creative,” urged the cable.
